Japanese investors develop taste for Rand yield

Investec Asset Management today announced an agreement with Japan’s Shinsei Bank Limited, which allows Japanese investors access to a South African Rand-denominated Money Market Fund managed by Investec Asset Management. The Horizon Trust – South Africa Rand Money Market Fund is registered in the Cayman Islands and will be distributed by various distributors in Japan.

The Fund, which has a similar mandate to the Investec Money Market Fund, targets Japanese retail investors who are attracted by the high yield in the South African money market, given that the yield is close to zero in Japan. Japanese investors will, however, take on the full currency risk, so they will need to be confident that the yield they earn in the SA money market would not be eroded by currency movements.

Shinsei Bank appointed Investec Asset Management to manage the Fund after conducting an extensive on-site due diligence.

“We are delighted to be partnering with an important international investment player like Shinsei Bank, as their decision to choose Investec Asset Management endorses the successful track record we have built in managing South African assets over the past eighteen years. Our global reach and established international profile have undoubtedly assisted us in the bidding process. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with Shinsei Bank in Japan.

“This is our first mandate win in Japan and we are actively looking to build a business there. We have been promoting our specialist products, such as Frontier and Commodity equities, Asian equities and local Emerging Market Debt, and have found that many Japanese institutions are very interested in these products.”