Investec Asset Management's Africa Funds May Triple Investments by 2015

Investec Asset Management, the South African money manager with $70 billion in assets, said its investments in Africa, excluding South Africa, may triple in the next two to five years as investors seek growth markets.

“The growth outlook in the developed world is not compelling and frontier markets are demanding attention, with Africa at the forefront of that,” John Green, director of global business development, said in an interview from Cape Town today. “We believe in the pan-African investment story and that it is sustainable.”

Of the $70 billion Investec Asset Management oversees globally, $27 billion is in South Africa and $3 billion in the rest of the continent, Green said. This may climb to more than $10 billion in the next two to five years, he said.

Outside of South Africa, Investec invests in Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria and West Africa’s Abidjan, Ivory Coast- based Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres regional exchange, through a combination of public and private equity and public and private debt, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janice Kew in Johannesburg at jkew1@bloomberg.net