The Eastern and Southern African Trade Fund (ESATF) celebrated its 4th year anniversary this week at the Caudan Arts Centre in Port-Louis, Mauritius, with current and prospective investors.
Since its launch in August 2019, ESATF has grown its assets under management (AUM) to USD 128 million while delivering a robust 7.52% return over the last 12 months, and 19.66% since inception. ESATF is an open-ended fund comprising of short-term trade finance assets; it targets money market type financial returns and offers short-term liquidity with a 3 months-notice period.
The fund has attracted a diverse range of investors, including banking institutions, insurance companies, pension funds, and high-net-worth individuals. This diverse investor base extends across different regions in Africa and highlights their confidence in the commercial approach and expertise of Eastern and Southern Africa Trade Advisers Limited (ESATAL), ESATF’s fund manager.
Through targeted strategies, ESATAL, via ESATF, has been able to support and stimulate various economic and trade sectors in the continent, including West Africa. Notably, the fund has allocated 15% of its portfolio to trading enterprises in Mauritius, supporting commercial development and the Mauritian financial sector. The fund’s financing activities have facilitated the creation of new employment opportunities, the promotion of innovation, and fostered trade, contributing to the region’s economic growth and development.
ESATF is firmly committed to sustaining its ongoing growth through expansion into new African economies, giving priority to structured commodity finance and export finance.
Admassu Tadesse, TDB Group President Emeritus and Managing Director said: “As we celebrate the 4th anniversary of the Eastern and Southern Africa
Trade Fund (ESATF), we reflect on our growth and triple bottom line impact, including financial returns with low volatility and benchmarked to short-term money market returns. This achievement is testament to the responsiveness of African multilateral financial institutions to the large and growing trade financing gaps in Africa, where there has been curtailed access to international correspondent banking services and related international bank exits from many African banking markets. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our various investors, notably BADEA, as well as to our other partners and dedicated teams who have played an integral role in this institutional innovation and success story. Together we have helped close some of these pressing gaps and enabled more international trade with Africa, including more intra-African trade. We look forward to growing the fund further in the years to come”.
Daniel Lam Chun, ESATAL Deputy CEO said: “With a presence in 15 African countries thus far, ESATF remains committed to enhancing intra-African trade and facilitating commercial exchanges with international markets. Equipped with a robust pipeline of deals across the continent, the fund is determined to continue fostering trade-led sustainable socio-economic development through a focused trade finance strategy which appeals to a wide spectrum of global investors, motivated by the dual objectives of steady returns and impact in some of the fastest-growing economies in the world.”