Emerging market investing means muted expectations and a willingness to look beyond the BRIC countries, panelists said Tuesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif.
“Over the next five years, I think we are going to have a very turbulent time, so if you are any kind of institutional investor on a five-year horizon, you must be thinking about single-digit returns,” said Mark Cutis, chief investment officer for global special situations with the Abu Dhabi Investment Council.
“The old way of developing emerging markets was the BRICs … Now they’ve got their issues. Now you’ve got to know about 100 countries,” said Jay Ireland, president and CEO of GE Africa, which has offices in 140 countries and is focusing its investments on 10 to 12 countries in Africa.
While Brazil and neighboring countries are not expected to improve in terms of investment opportunities, “there’s a whole part of Latin America, the Pacific countries, who have found their place in the world economy and have reached investment grade,” said Juan Sartori, founder and executive chairman of private equity firm Union Group in London. “The growth is there.”
