The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has granted a fund manager’s license to African Diaspora Asset Managers Limited.
The fund manager will target Kenyan and African clients in the diaspora. The firm will offer financial products and services in asset management, unit trusts, financial investment management, financial planning, wealth management, discretionary portfolio management, property development and private equity.
The entry of African Diaspora Asset Managers happens at a time when many fund managers are cutting down their exposure to a bearish equity market. Others such as Centum are shedding off their interests in a depressed property market.
African Diaspora Asset Managers (ADAM) Limited Chief Executive Officer Mr. Runyah Lewa noted that his firm is interested in collective investment schemes that will initially comprise of five funds, subject to the Capital Market Authority’s consent and subsequent registration.
The proposed schemes are ADAM Money Market Fund, ADAM Fixed Income Fund, ADAM Equities Fund, ADAM Property Fund and ADAM Business Growth Fund.
The latter will be a Private Equity Fund specifically seeking to provide debt and equity capital for SMEs in Kenya and Africa.
The approval brings the total number of licensed fund managers to 25.
“The asset management sector is an important component of capital markets. This sector includes the management of funds owned by institutions such as pension funds and insurance companies, and the independent management of funds on behalf of retail investors, which can be distributed as collective investment schemes or unit trusts,” said CMA Acting Chief Executive Wyckliffe Shamiah.
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