Family Bank founder Titus Muya and a former Old Mutual Asset Management executive, Andia Chakava, have opened a fund management firm, venturing into an increasingly competitive sector that now has 23 licensees all seeking to handle investors’ cash.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) announced on Friday it had issued Alpha Africa Asset Managers (AAAM) with a fund manager’s licence.
Ms Chakava, a former managing director of Old Mutual Kenya’s investment services, said in an interview that Alpha Africa is eyeing intra-African investments that are being fuelled by growing trade ties between African countries.
The fund management unit will also seek to link foreign investors with opportunities in Africa.
“For the local capital markets, we shall be offering treasury management, especially for SMEs, personal wealth management and also alternative asset classes such as unquoted equities and property,’’ said Ms Chakava, who is also Alpha Africa Asset Manager’s managing director.
She added that the fund manager will not solely target high net worth individuals or corporations, but will be open to anyone with the means to invest.
Mr Muya is the new fund management unit’s chairman.
Kenya Orient Insurance chairman Julius Muyah also sits on the board of Alpha Africa.
AAAM is seeking to capitalise on Africa’s fast economic growth, which has far outpaced developed markets in the past decade.
The firm was incorporated in Kenya on March 22, becoming the third fund manager licensed by CMA in the past three months.
In August, CMA issued a fund management licence to UAP Holdings. UAP Holdings’ board had approved the opening of the business subsidiary last year and applied to the regulator for an operating licence.
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