Private Equity | Half of the Angola Sovereign Wealth Fund invest in Private Equity

Luanda, Angola, Capital Markets in Africa: Angola’s sovereign wealth fund said it put more than half of its investments in private equity funds focused in the country and across sub-Saharan Africa last year, describing its performance as “solid,” particularly in light of the global economic turbulence.

The fund, known as FSDEA, had assets worth $4.7 billion in 2015 after being endowed with $5 billion from the government in 2014, according to an investment update released on Thursday. About 58 percent of its portfolio was in private equity funds for infrastructure, real estate, timber, mining, health care and mezzanine capital.

The fund said its planned $3 billion allocation to private equity funds will be fully invested by 2020, according to the statement.

Fixed income assets represented another 23 percent of its portfolio, with sovereign bonds accounting for about half of that about corporate debt about one fifth. Most of those assets are North American and European.

Angola, which with Nigeria is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers, has been struggling to cope with the impact of lower commodity prices. The fund, managed by Zug, Switzerland-based Quantum Global Investment Management Ltd., is designed to generate new sources of revenue as the country reduces its reliance on oil income, Chairman Jose Filomeno dos Santos, the son of decades-long serving President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, said in the statement.

Across the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America, governments are tapping reserves to plug deficits amid plunging oil prices. Petrodollars are pouring out of a myriad of vehicles, including sovereign wealth funds.