Bloomberg reports that the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) is planning to invest more of its about R2-trillion in fixed-income and unlisted assets as SA faces a possible credit-rating downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service in 2020.  

It is also still seeking to increase its investments outside SA to reduce risk of over-exposure to locally traded companies, GEPF principal executive Abel Sithole said on Thursday at the release of the fund’s annual report for the financial year to the end of March.  “One way to prepare for a downgrade is to start positioning the portfolio on the unlisted and fixed-income side,” Sithole said.  Even so, the pension fund could not take “knee-jerk” decisions and needed to consider what was good for the country.  Moves to take more money offshore would also not happen “overnight,” he said.  The GEPF has more than 90% of its assets invested in SA and taking more cash offshore could be a blow to SA’s listed companies.  Meanwhile, increased investment in unlisted companies might help back new industries, Sithole pointed out.  Buying more unlisted assets would need to be “done right”, Sithole noted out.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Janice Kew at BusinessLive

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