GraySwan partners with EM Applications

As investing in Africa grows in popularity GraySwan and EMA have formed an alliance to assist institutional and private client investors with market risk intelligence.

GraySwan, a South African provider of independent investment and risk advisory services to more than R28 billion of assets, has entered into an agreement with EM Applications Ltd (EMA), a leading supplier of investment risk solutions. GraySwan will use EMA’s risk analysis system to support its provision of independent investment advice to institutional investors and private client investors in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia.

African economic growth is currently outperforming the developed and emerging world. As a result, South African and global investment firms are increasing their investments in, and exposure to, the African public investment markets, and a number of firms have launched funds under the “UCITS” label. Both tendencies drive a demand for more sophisticated risk analyses to be carried out, both to communicate the level of risk in an investment portfolio and to gain a better understanding of the nature of the underlying risks. EMA has developed a risk model specifically targeting the Africa region and has made a commitment to supporting clients in the region. Consequently, GraySwan have decided to appoint EMA as their preferred provider for such risk analysis to complement their internal proprietary performance risk monitoring systems.

Bobby Rakhit, CFA, Managing Director of EMA (Africa and Middle East) said: “We are excited to have the opportunity to work with GraySwan to support the African investment community. We know from our own experience and references from third parties that the team at GraySwan have established themselves over many years as expert consultants with a strong reputation for independence, professionalism and integrity. It is clear that they have a good understanding of the needs of the institutional pension fund community. Like ourselves, they see significant growth in public investment activity in Africa and we believe together we can provide a solution that enhances the decision-making abilities of an investor. We are committed to the Africa market and have engaged Dr Costas Stephanou, CFA, to support clients in the region.”

Duncan Theron, Chief Executive Officer, GraySwan Investments, said: “After a comprehensive due diligence exercise we concluded that EMA had demonstrated a particular commitment to the South African and African markets, and have decided to integrate their system with our other proprietary technology to complement and support the risk analysis aspect of our service to our institutional and private clients. EMA will therefore be an integral part of our offering to investors in the region. We have found that clients are increasingly interested in understanding investment risk and are pleased to be able to have the support of Dr Costas Stephanou who we have known for many years.”