Kenanga Investors Ismitz Matthew De Alwis
Kenanga Investors Berhad (KIB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad, has launched a frontier fund.
The “Kenanga Sustainability Series: Frontier Fund” will invest primarily in equity securities of global cutting-edge, innovative companies with long-term sustainable growth potential or are on the cusp of IPO. It will also back companies that have developed/will develop products and services linked to technologically-driven innovations.
Also Read: Kenanga Investors announces the return of unicorn fund, collaborates with Ericsenz Capital
Kenanga focuses on the next-gen or forward-looking innovations currently shaping the future industries, such as the space economy, the metaverse, healthcare, fintech and cybersecurity.
The frontier fund will allow investors to capture the sustainable value generation of these companies, which were previously exclusively available to institutional investors.
According to Kenanga Investors CEO Ismitz Matthew De Alwis, the aim is to reshape Malaysia’s existing private equity space by addressing the lack of available gateways for investors to access investment opportunities in prominent, hard-to-reach early-stage startups.
“Since 2016, emerging digital companies have won over the “old economy” by being among the top five most valuable corporations. Given the constant development of new technologies, it is unsurprising that new technology companies are sprouting. We began bridging the gap between prominent players of the new ‘Big Tech’ and our investors back in 2019,” he said.
“The resulting outcome has been fulfilling for our investors in many ways; from portfolio diversification to the exploration of a new investment universe beyond the traditional investing realm, and so, demand for similar offerings has risen. We are glad to introduce the Fund to the market where investors who were not able to participate previously will have an opportunity to do so this time”, he said.
In his view, frontier tech represents many opportunities in boosting the development curve of the future. The opportunities include utilising technologies to reduce carbon emissions, new medical discoveries to propel patient empowerment, and the democratisation of financial services.
Also Read: Malaysia’s Kenanga Investors launches fund for investing in unicorns
The fund feeds into the Ericsenz Frontier Fund (a VC and PE firm) and is suitable for sophisticated investors with a medium to long-term investment horizons. The initial offer period is from October 27 through December 3, 2021. It is available in both MYR and USD classes so that investors can invest in their preferred currency.
In June 2019, Kenanga Investors launched Kenanga Global Unicorn 1 (KGU1), which aims for medium-term returns by investing in unicorn companies.
Early this week, Bursa Malaysia Securities publicly reprimanded JAKS Resources and its principal adviser Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd, for contravening the exchange’s Main Market Listing Requirements, a Malay Mail report said.
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Image Credit: Kenanga Investors
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