BPOPF Identifies Five Managers For Asia Push

Pauline Dikuelo | Monday September 7, 2020 13:06

BPOPF, which is Botswana's largest pension fund by portfolio, revealed it has identified five managers who will take its portfolio into China and Hong Kong. With assets of more than P60 billion, the pension fund has made no secret of its desire to crack the Chinese financial market, which has generally been closed off to outsiders.

Previously, the Fund said the Asian giant in particular offered a lucrative unique market despite the limits to external investors adding the Chinese market had abundant opportunities waiting to be explored.

BPOPF’s upbeat chair of benefits committee Agang Gabana said Thursday the pension fund has recorded a slight growth in the Fund’s Assets under management of one percent  from P66.5 billion to P 67.1billion.

Gabana added that the BPOPF has recently identified managers focusing on the Africa mandate, to which P2 billion has been committed to the Africa Equities mandate.

“Amidst the current challenges, the Fund continues to actively invest locally and offshore in line with its investment strategy. As such the Fund is working on procuring the services of an additional manager for its local equities mandate,” she told a media briefing.

BPOPF is also actively pursuing infrastructure investments locally with the aim of ensuring that it actively participates in the development of the country, while maximising returns for its members.

Gabana said all these efforts are aimed at optimising BPOPF's portfolio mix and attaining full diversification, adding that the Board is ready to make any necessary changes to the portfolios as and when so required to ensure that they create value for the members.

The pension fund  has previously launched a fresh P1 billion private equity drive which saw it entering into partnership agreement with two fund managers each handed a P500 million purse for the local private equity market.

The two fund managers are part of an incubation project in which the BPOPF seeks to identify and develop citizen-owned asset managers through the placement of portfolios for management. A third fund manager, who would have handled a P500 million local equity portfolio, was disqualified at the last stages of assessment.

Under the incubation initiative, the BPOPF expects its P1 billion back after 10 years, with returns.

The pension fund has also been hit by the outbreak of COVID-19 Just like any business. According to the fund, it has not only threatened the performance of the  investments, as restrictions has affected the operations of the Fund.

However the fund has noted that they have a robust risk management framework and a Business Continuity Plan to ensure that all risks are mitigated and or managed accordingly, and that service provision is not disrupted.