Investec launches African bond fund for Stopford

Investec has launched an African bond fund for co-heads of fixed income John Stopford and South Africa-based Andre Roux.

The Investec GSF Africa High Income Bond fund is a Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV with an indicative yield of 9.4%, based on the paper portfolio Stopford has been running. The majority of its holdings are in South African sovereign and corporate debt, with currency exposure largely to the South African rand within the model portfolio. There are also smaller positions in bonds from Kenya, Nigeria, Angola and Ghana. In terms of credit quality, the portfolio has about one-third each in A- and BBB-rated debt, with the remainder split across the spectrum from BBB- to BB+. David Aird, man...