Bolivian Bank Targets US Investors

The asset management arm of Bolivia’s largest bank hopes to capitalize on growing bullishness towards LatAm by tapping US investors for funds. “Our objective is to bring a concise package to the US market,” Heiner Skaliks, portfolio manager of the Strategic Latin America Fund (SLAF), launched this year by Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz’s asset management arm. “If we are able to tap into a small portion of US investors, that is a significant size for us,” he tells LatinFinance. Skaliks notes that the vehicle is fruit of the bank’s renewed efforts to diversify beyond Bolivia. He claims that the blended fund is the first such entity from LatAm to be offered in the US with exposure to both debt and equity. SLAF has raised $25m and is targeting $1bn over a 5-7-year period. It is 65% allocated to fixed income and 30%-35% equity, he adds. Retail investment is the short-term target, while SLAF will look to bring in institutional money when increased in size. The challenge for a fund based in such a small country is finding distribution channels in the US. SLAF is in talks with investment banks in the US regarding distribution, Skaliks says. He adds that the fund will allocate across LatAm and is industry and country agnostic, favoring exchange-traded securities.