The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) has confirmed the introduction of its incubation assets management programme, which commenced in 2019.
The programme aims to address the need for active beneficial participation of Namibian professionals in the asset management industry; expand on their capacity within the country, and bring in expertise with the necessary skills to mainstream asset management.
The total value of GIPF’s assets under investment as at August 2020 stood at N$122 billion. “The programme will run for five years; where after, the Fund will assess the asset managers’ performance. Depending on their success, they will continue to manage the GIPF assets on the same basis as any other conventional asset manager. The programme consists of six managers. These companies are managed by Namibians in Namibia and have no affiliation to South African corporates. The adjudication and appointment of these asset managers followed a rigorous process of identifying talent that can be nurtured over the next few years. To allow for meaningful portfolio management, these incubation managers were allocated South African Listed Equity Mandates to manage. We are hopeful that the success emanating from this initiative will create more opportunities for the next generation of fund management experts,” said Leevi Tshoopara, GIPF’s Manager for Listed Investments. Each of the managers were allocated N$700 million. The total programme has a commitment of N$4.2 billion. GIPF has emphasised the incubation programme is a listed mandate initiative – and as such, it falls outside the unlisted investment commitments, yet it complements the Fund’s investment initiatives.
Unlisted investments
Meanwhile, in response to questions from Inside Business, GIPF’s CEO and principal officer David Nuyoma explained that in terms of regulatory requirements, it is mandatory for the GIPF to invest in unlisted assets through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) who in turn appoint Fund managers with relevant experts.
“The total amount committed under the unlisted investments programme is N$21.7 billion. Of this amount, N$11.8 billion is drawn down, leaving a balance of N$9.9 billion in un-drawdown capital. The committed funds have been allocated to 28 Unlisted Investment Managers spread across the world, as of 30 June 2020, cumulative since 2010,” said Nuyoma.
He continued there are 19 Unlisted Investment Managers across Namibia, three in South Africa, four across Pan Africa and two internationally.
The percentage allocated funds are 28% for Namibia (N$6 076 000), 40% for South Africa and Pan Africa (N$8 680 000) and 32% internationally (N$6 944 000).
Through these Unlisted Investment Managers, GIPF has mandated 37 SPV’s in a variety of sectors to make impactful socio-economic investments, of which the Fund receives an average net investment return in excess of CPI plus 500 basis points. Nuyoma added that some Unlisted Investment Managers are mandated to manage more than one SPV.