(Bloomberg) -- In a world of low returns, Colombia’s Sura Asset Management seeks to convince large institutional investors to bet on greater profitability in Latin America.
Sura Investment Management, the division of Sura Asset Management that serves this client segment, is working to bring its various Latin American funds to international investors. Its target is to more than double its assets under management and reach $25 billion in AUM by the end of 2023 according to Pablo Sprenger, CEO of Sura Investment Management.
As part of this growth strategy, Sura Investment Management expects to finalize the first investment of Australian pension funds into its own funds before the end of the month, Sprenger said in an interview in Santiago. The investment will take place three years after Sura opened an office in the Australian market where giants like AustralianSuper Pty, which has $108 billion in assets under management, operate.
At the same time, Sura Investment Management expects to obtain a license in Luxembourg during the second half of the year to create a open-ended collective investment structure, or Sicav, which would allow it to list its funds and offer them to any investor in the world. “If we achieve our plan, we will be Latin America’s reference investment manager and number one,” he said.
Sura Investment Management plans take place at a time when the U.S.-China trade war, the decline in returns on traditional assets and rising risk aversion have hit local markets.
The institutional investment business of Sura Investment Management, which Sprenger has led since last year, currently operates in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay and manages assets of just under $12 billion.
“In Latin America, which is where we want to show that we are the experts, we have different outlooks,” the CEO said. Sura is neutral on Chile “which has been disappointing in terms of its economic growth”. The country is very exposed to China and the risks of trade war. “If this were to change, Chile could become an opportunity, but now we are neutral,” Sprenger said.
On the other hand, he showed “concern” about Mexico and Peru, while highlighting the attractiveness of both Colombia and Brazil. Colombia is the headquarters of Sura’s parent company Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana SA. It still lacks a direct presence in Brazil.
“We cover Brazil without having a presence there, we are looking at how to solve the issue by the end of 2020. Brazil has to be part of the equation,” Sprenger said.
Original Story:Sura apunta a inversionistas globales para duplicar activos
To contact the translation editor responsible for this story: Sebastian Boyd at sboyd9@bloomberg.net
Reporter on the original story: Maria Jose Campano in Santiago at mcampano@bloomberg.net
Editors responsible for the original story: Andrea Jaramillo at ajaramillo1@bloomberg.net, Eduardo Thomson, Jose Enrique Arrioja
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