Prescient awarded additional $100 million quota for investment in China

In 2012 Prescient was granted a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) licence by the Chinese authorities, making it the first institution in Africa to be awarded a licence to invest in fast-growing China.

Herman Steyn, CEO at Prescient Investment Management commented: "What this meant was that we were able to give South African and African investors direct access to the Chinese stock market.

"We received our first quota of $50 million in early 2013 and this was filled by investors within one month of launch. Unfortunately due to the limit imposed by the quota we had to close the fund to further inflows.

"However, we have been informed that we are to receive an additional $100m quota and are pleased to be able to make this offer available once again to clients.”

Prescient Investment Management launched the Prescient China Balanced Fund in March 2013 after receiving its QFII license.

Direct investments into Chinese markets can only be made through a license holder who is able to invest directly on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in China, as well as access the inter-bank market, the bond market and the futures market.

The Prescient China Balanced Fund is a sub-fund of Prescient Global Funds plc, an open-ended umbrella fund with segregated liability between its funds and authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as a UCITS fund pursuant to the UCITS Regulations.

UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) is a European Union directive which in theory aims to allow collective investment schemes to operate freely throughout the EU on the basis of authorisation from a single member state.

Liang Du, Head of Asset Allocation at Prescient Investment Management and Manager of Prescient China Balanced Fund commented: "Investors have access to the Prescient China Balanced Fund by subscribing to shares directly in Ireland through the utilisation of their offshore exchange control allowance, or by investing via the rand-denominated Prescient China Feeder Fund in South Africa,” says Du.

The Prescient China Balanced Fund aims to achieve long term capital growth appreciation by investing in a diversified spectrum of Chinese equity, bond and money market instruments.

China is currently trading at the lowest valuations in its history, with the potential of delivering high real returns. Combined with the low correlation to the JSE, it stands as one of the best diversifiers for a South African investor when taking money offshore.