Africa

The South African competition commission has cleared the merger of financial services groups Escher Group and mCubed Capital Holdings, with no conditions.

South Africa's government investment manager, Public Investment Commissioners (PIC), is expecting a directive from the R220bn (US$28bn) Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) to put out to tender the fund's R60bn domestic equity portfolio.

The AIDS epidemic in South Africa could result in increased pension contributions from 8.5% to 12.5% of salary by 2005, according to research by Metropolitan Asset Management (MeAM).

South Africa's Murray & Roberts Retirement Fund has dropped Old Mutual due to "poor performance" and appointed SEI Investments.

Only one out of three retirement fund portfolio managers in South Africa were able to outperform inflation over the last year ending March 31, 2001.