The fund will be managed by South Africa-based Paul Clark, and will invest in undervalued listed African equities (ex. South Africa) across a range of sectors.
Clark launched his first Africa fund in 2007, and worked as head of Africa funds at African Alliance, an investment banking group, for almost eight years.
Speaking of the launch, Clark said: “Africa is a growth story and seven of the ten quickest growing economies globally will be in Africa in the next five years. We are invested across Africa (ex. South Africa), targeting some of the fastest growing markets in the continent.
"Valuations are cheap relative to emerging markets globally and the consumer boom is leading to greater demand in other sectors such as infrastructure development, construction and leisure. Continuously improving operating environments across the continent means investors now have access to previously un-obtainable opportunities while providing greater protection for investors’ interests.”
Wider horizons
The firm launched its Ucits platform as part of its move to expand its product range and reach new markets. The Africa fund is available to both retail and institutional clients, with minimum investments for the respective share classes of $10,000 and $1m.
Ashburton is part of the FirstRand group, one of the largest financial services groups in Africa. It has four other equity funds under management, the Chindia Equity Fund, the European Equity Fund, the Sterling International Equity Fund and the Dollar International Equity Fund.
The sterling fund has £19m under management, while the dollar fund has £13.8m under management, and the performance of both is shown in the graph below.
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Ashburton is not the only firm to be taking advantage of the growing range of opportunities in Africa; in April Barings launched its Frontier Markets Fund, which will invest around a quarter of total assets across the African continent.
