Should you follow Mobius into Africa?

Veteran emerging-markets fund manager Mark Mobius is opening his Africa-focused fund to investors. Should you buy in? Matthew Partridge investigates.

In the hunt for the next big emerging market, the investment industry occasionally tries to hype sub-Saharan Africa as worth a punt'. But by and large, the region has yet to live up to its promise. The most high-profile launch in recent years New Star's Heart of Africa fund ended in tears. It was wound up in 2009, crippled by illiquidity as the credit crunch hammered frontier' markets, with many investors badly burned in the process.

However, the latest big-name venture into Africa might be of more interest. Veteran emerging-markets investor Mark Mobius is set to head up the Templeton Africa Fund, which opens to investors later this month. According to Ventures Africa, "the fund will aim for long-term capital growth by investing in African-listed equities or companies based elsewhere but with principal business activities in Africa".

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri