For Really Uncorrelated Returns, Try Investing In A Ghana Power Station
Bloomberg Markets|August - September 2019

Investing in African power plants can boost returns, provide a hedge against global market shocks, and help lift people out of poverty, says Jerome Booth.

James Crombie
For Really Uncorrelated Returns, Try Investing In A Ghana Power Station

The chairman of London-based New Sparta Asset Management Ltd. takes it a step further: For investors, not having such assets in a portfolio is “irresponsible,” he says.

Booth has strong opinions about emerging markets. An economist, he was part of the management group that in 1999 established Ashmore Group Plc, an emerging-markets-focused investment manager in London that now oversees $92 billion. After retiring from Ashmore in 2013, Booth started New Sparta, wrote Emerging Markets in an Upside Down World: Challenging Perceptions in Asset Allocation and Investment (Wiley, 2014), and was appointed chairman of Anglia Ruskin University’s board of governors.

He personally invested about $10 million in developing a power plant in Northern Ghana, alongside Erling Lorentzen, founder of Brazilian forest products producer Aracruz Celulose SA. That project has spent $70 million on a forest of eucalyptus trees to provide biomass fuel and now awaits a so-called put and call option agreement, which is economically equivalent to a government guarantee, according to Booth. Once that’s in hand, the plant’s owners plan to raise up to $350 million in financing, mostly debt, to get to production.

JAMES CROMBIE: Why are you investing in African power?

JEROME BOOTH: Energy is the biggest bottleneck to economic development in Africa. Investing in emerging markets—including in illiquid things like power stations—is a way to not just increase returns and diversify your portfolio, it’s a way fundamentally to reduce risk. If you don’t do it, you’re actually concentrating your portfolio in a highly risky way, which is imprudent and irresponsible.

This story is from the August - September 2019 edition of Bloomberg Markets.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the August - September 2019 edition of Bloomberg Markets.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM BLOOMBERG MARKETSView All
See Which Countries Are Falling Behind On Climate Change
Bloomberg Markets

See Which Countries Are Falling Behind On Climate Change

Under the Paris Agreement, 190 countries and the European Union pledged to take steps to hold the global temperature rise to less than 2C (3.6F) from preindustrial levels—and preferably 1.5C.

time-read
4 mins  |
October - November 2021
Billionaires Vie for the Future of Brazilian Finance
Bloomberg Markets

Billionaires Vie for the Future of Brazilian Finance

An escalating battle between two billionaires is upending the financial community in São Paulo, Latin America’s wealthiest city.

time-read
8 mins  |
October - November 2021
Ford Foundation's Darren Walker: ‘We Have to Get Uncomfortable'
Bloomberg Markets

Ford Foundation's Darren Walker: ‘We Have to Get Uncomfortable'

DARREN WALKER, 62, disrupted his Wall Street life more than 25 years ago when he left what is now UBS Group AG to volunteer at a school and eventually pursue a career in community development and philanthropy. Since 2013 he’s been at the pinnacle of the philanthropic world as president of the Ford Foundation, created by the family of automaker Henry Ford during the Great Depression to advance human welfare.

time-read
8 mins  |
October - November 2021
Fueling the Ener Transition
Bloomberg Markets

Fueling the Ener Transition

I MAY BE BIASED, but some of the most important research and data on the Bloomberg terminal lies in one of its lesser-known functions: {BNEF }

time-read
1 min  |
October - November 2021
Dig Into Analysts' Estimates for Disruptive Companies
Bloomberg Markets

Dig Into Analysts' Estimates for Disruptive Companies

THE PANDEMIC ERA generated a whole wave of disruptive companies as it accelerated the introduction of new products and services in areas including artificial intelligence, digitization, electronic payments, online meeting platforms, and virtual currencies.

time-read
4 mins  |
October - November 2021
Climate Risks Come for Sovereign Credit
Bloomberg Markets

Climate Risks Come for Sovereign Credit

FOR YEARS climate scientists have warned about the ferocious wildfires and hurricanes that are now overwhelming many communities. Today alarms are ringing about a related financial danger: risks lurking within government bonds, the biggest part of the global debt market.

time-read
7 mins  |
October - November 2021
Responsible-Investing Pioneer Lydenberg Says ESG Needs An Upgrade
Bloomberg Markets

Responsible-Investing Pioneer Lydenberg Says ESG Needs An Upgrade

STEVE LYDENBERG’S passion for social change was inspired by anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, consumer boycotts, and the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa. But he didn’t take to the streets. Instead, Lydenberg turned to the world of finance to help catalyze societal change.

time-read
8 mins  |
October - November 2021
Engine No. 1's Grancio: ‘People Will Appreciate an Economic Argument'
Bloomberg Markets

Engine No. 1's Grancio: ‘People Will Appreciate an Economic Argument'

ENGINE NO. 1 sent shock waves across corporate America in May when the fledgling investment firm won a boardroom battle with Exxon Mobil Corp., securing three seats on the oil and gas giant’s board after purchasing only about $40 million of its stock.

time-read
6 mins  |
October - November 2021
Find Out Which Companies May Ramp Up Payouts After Covid
Bloomberg Markets

Find Out Which Companies May Ramp Up Payouts After Covid

AS THE PANDEMIC DISRUPTED business last year, many companies cut or suspended dividends. Which will boost their payouts when economies pick up again?

time-read
2 mins  |
October - November 2021
Get Into the Minds of Central Bankers as They Navigate Shocks
Bloomberg Markets

Get Into the Minds of Central Bankers as They Navigate Shocks

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED how central bankers forecast the impact of shocks on the economy?

time-read
4 mins  |
October - November 2021