Kenya. Pensions raise investments in offshore, private equity

Kenya. Pensions raise investments in offshore, private equity

Pension funds have raised their offshore and private equity investments threefold in the past two years, underlining the push for income diversification from equities and property whose returns have contracted.

The funds raised their offshore investments from Sh6.32 billion in 2019 to Sh19.4 billion at the end of last year, the latest industry data from the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) shows.

Private equity (PE) investments meanwhile went up from Sh969 million to Sh2.96 billion in the period. While alternative investment classes are still dwarfed by the traditional types such as government securities, equities, property and guaranteed funds, they are expected to keep growing as funds seek the higher returns they offer — especially from private equity.

“The offshore investments also continued to record an upward trend…this can be partly attributed to the depreciation of the Kenya shilling against the dollar and the fact that schemes are pursuing diversification due to the stock market volatility,” said the RBA.

Read more @Bussines Daily

543 views