Total assets under the management of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) — formerly the Public Investment Commission — amounted to R488-billion at the end of June this year, says PIC CEO Brian Molefe. This was up from R461-billion at the end of the 2004/05 financial year.
Molefe told the National Assembly finance portfolio committee on Friday that R234-billion was in bonds, R192,3-billion in equities, R43,94-billion in cash, R12,5-billion in the Isibaya Fund and about R3,7-billion in properties.
Molefe said the PIC has become a modern asset-management company and assets under management rose from R377-billion at the beginning of the 2004/05 financial year to R461-billion at the end of the financial year.
Bonds made up 47,9% of assets as at the end of June, slightly down from 51,3% at March 31 last year, while equities rose from 34,4% to 39,4% in this time.
“We have increased our exposure to equities and have benefited immensely from the run on equities in the last year.”
The bulk of the Isibaya Fund — which made up 2,5% of assets in June this year — consisted of the Telkom Elephant deal. This was about R6-billion and made a return of R1,5-billion.
“We have sold 6,7% of what we warehoused to the Elephant Consortium,” he noted.
Molefe said that the consolidated fund performance was 20,6% in the past financial year, with equities performing best with a return of 33,9%. This was followed by the return on properties of 15,7%, while the money markets showed a return of 7,8% and structured investment products of 10,7%. The capital market showed a return of 14,1%.
He noted that the Isibaya fund performance was very high during the past financial year, at 40,8%.
Molefe noted that the bulk of funds was managed for the Government Employees Pension Fund — “by far the largest client” — with 91% of funds under management. This amounted to R446,8-billion at the end of June.
The second-largest client was the Unemployment Insurance Fund — at the end of June — with R11,24-billion or 2,3% of funds.
The third-largest client was the Associated Institution Pension Fund, amounting to 2,23% or R10,8-billion of funds under management. This was followed by the Compensation Commissioner Pension Fund with R6,89-billion under management, or 1,41%. The Compensation Commissioner Compensation Fund amounted to 1,17% of assets, or R5,7-billion at the end of June. — I-Net Bridge