Today Cloud Atlas Investing, a South Africa-based investment firm, listed the Africa Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), giving investors exposure to a portfolio of high-yielding, long-date debt issued by African governments.
The ETF will track the S&P Africa Hard Currency Sovereign Bond Select Index, which in turn tracks the performance of hard currency bonds (USD and EUR) issued by African countries. The ETF will give investors access primarily to sovereign bonds issued by governments of Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa.
According to Cloud Atlas Investing, while the ETF has been offered to investors via a primary JSE listing, it is planning secondary listings on other bourses around the world.
"The world is a big place when one considers how many investment options exist. The nature of ETFs makes it all the easier to access this investment universe and build or preserve wealth. In a global environment where interest rates are at record lows, investors seeking high yield in US Dollars will find it here with the listing of the Cloud Atlas S&P African Sovereign Bond ETF," says Maurice Madiba, CEO of Cloud Atlas Investing.
Valdene Reddy, Director of Capital Markets at the JSE, welcomed the listing of the Africa Sovereign Bond ETF, highlighting the vast options it will give to investors who want to diversify their portfolios to include sovereign bonds, and for exposure across the continent.
“We congratulate Cloud Atlas Investing for bringing this innovative investment product to market, that appeals to both institutional and retail investors. We wish them success with this bold endeavour to introduce investors to products that are aimed at contributing towards Africa’s development,” concluded Reddy.
The Africa Sovereign Bond Exchange ETF brings the number of listed ETFs on the JSE to 83 with a market capitalisation of over R115 billion.
ETFs are listed investment products that track the performance of indices or a single asset such as a commodity. An ETF can be bought or sold in the same way as an ordinary share. Investors save time and money as ETFs enable them to invest in a variety of asset classes through a single listed investment product.
