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Johannesburg - Shoddy infrastructure, not volatile politics, may be the biggest threat to Africa's long-term health, a leading South African fund manager said on Tuesday.
While investors have fretted for years over political risks on the world's poorest continent, the lack of adequate roads and ports may be a bigger long-term hindrance for the continent, said John Green, head of global business development at Investec Asset Management.
"What worries us the most is the ability for the growth trend to persist if certain things aren't dealt with ... very specifically the issue of infrastructure," Green told the Reuters Africa Investment Summit.
Investec Asset Management is a unit of South Africa's Investec [JSE:INL].
Infrastructure is one of the top challenges facing many nations on the world's poorest continent, given the massive investment required for road-building, development of ports and bridges, railway construction and energy generation projects.
Investec Asset Management, currently manages about $30bn in assets across the continent, with the bulk of that in South Africa. Green said the company was still looking to boost assets under management.
"I think that if some of these problems like infrastructure and political problems are resolved, (our investments in Africa) could be significant," he said.
The fund manager said last year it aimed to more than triple its African assets under management outside of South Africa to $10bn over the next five years.
Investec is one of the biggest asset managers in the R4 trillion South African asset management industry, the biggest in Africa and one of the top 15 in the world, according to the Association for Savings and Investment in South Africa.
While investors have fretted for years over political risks on the world's poorest continent, the lack of adequate roads and ports may be a bigger long-term hindrance for the continent, said John Green, head of global business development at Investec Asset Management.
"What worries us the most is the ability for the growth trend to persist if certain things aren't dealt with ... very specifically the issue of infrastructure," Green told the Reuters Africa Investment Summit.
Investec Asset Management is a unit of South Africa's Investec [JSE:INL].
Infrastructure is one of the top challenges facing many nations on the world's poorest continent, given the massive investment required for road-building, development of ports and bridges, railway construction and energy generation projects.
Investec Asset Management, currently manages about $30bn in assets across the continent, with the bulk of that in South Africa. Green said the company was still looking to boost assets under management.
"I think that if some of these problems like infrastructure and political problems are resolved, (our investments in Africa) could be significant," he said.
The fund manager said last year it aimed to more than triple its African assets under management outside of South Africa to $10bn over the next five years.
Investec is one of the biggest asset managers in the R4 trillion South African asset management industry, the biggest in Africa and one of the top 15 in the world, according to the Association for Savings and Investment in South Africa.
