Mobius Turns to Africa

Templeton Asset Management’s Mark Mobius is finding a good deal of value in a place not known for great investments: Africa.

Mobius tells Investors Chronicle that he’s high on telecoms, natural resources and consumer products in Africa, and is particularly bullish on banking stocks. “Banking in Africa is growing at a torrential pace and provides an opportunity to get exposure to the consumer sector,” Mobius says. He adds that “we want to get exposure before the multinationals come in — in the more developed emerging markets you will notice that multinationals have already come in and grabbed a large market share, gobbling up smaller local companies.”

Mobius says that in the past decade, six of the ten fastest growing countries were in Africa. “The continent is starting from a much lower base and admittedly there are more difficulties, but the growth possibilities are very high,” he says.