Funds: The best ways in to Africa

Investing in Africa is risky, and the continent's stockmarkets lack liquidity. But if you do want to put your money there, what should you do? Ruth Jackson explains.

Billionaire Roman Abramovich once noted that "investors have very short memories". It seems Alquity Investment Management are banking on him being correct. The London and Hong Kong-based start-up is launching an African equity fund just a year after a similar high-profile fund crashed and burned.

New Star Asset Management's Heart of Africa Fund was launched at the end of 2007 and by August 2008 boasted £86m of assets. But the illiquidity of African markets brought it down. Trading was suspended in December 2008 when the underlying markets dried up. The fund never reopened. New Star's fund managers at the time blamed everything from "elections in Ghana to religious holidays in Nigeria" for the collapse, says Steve Johnson in The FT.

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Ruth Jackson-Kirby

Ruth Jackson-Kirby is a freelance personal finance journalist with 17 years’ experience, writing about everything from savings accounts and credit cards to pensions, property and pet insurance.

Ruth started her career at MoneyWeek after graduating with an MA from the University of St Andrews, and she continues to contribute regular articles to our personal finance section. After leaving MoneyWeek she went on to become deputy editor of Moneywise before becoming a freelance journalist.

Ruth writes regularly for national publications including The Sunday Times, The Times, The Mail on Sunday and Good Housekeeping, among many other titles both online and offline.