OLD Mutual International, a division of the US$40 billion fund management group, has launched a unit trust for Hong Kong retail and institutional investors seeking exposure to South African stocks.
The parent company, Old Mutual Group, is a major South African financial services player with operations in fund management, insurance, pension provision and unit trusts and has extensive holdings in the country's real estate and equity markets.
The Galileo South African Equity Fund will specialise in small to medium capitalisation stocks listed on the Johannesburg exchange, focusing on the industrial and financial sectors.
Fund manager Adrian Allardice said it would invest predominantly in equities, including convertible bonds and options, with the option to diversify into fixed interest products.
Some investment analysts describe South Africa as a re-emerging rather than an emerging market, whose development was stultified by the sanctions imposed as a result of the former apartheid policies.
It is the largest economy in Africa.
