The Cyprus funds sector saw a small quarterly drop in the value under management, as well as the number of management companies and alternative investment funds at the end of the third quarter last year.
According to the quarterly report of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the number of management companies and undertakings of collective investments (UCIs) dropped marginally at the end of September from 328 to 323, while the total assets under management decreased by 2.43% from €9.4 bln to €9.1 bln. Of these, about a quarter are invested in Cyprus.
Year on year, the number of UCIs dropped from 335 at the end of the third quarter of 2023.
However, on an annual basis, total assets under management (AUM) increased by 6.08% from €8.61 bln at the end of the third quarter of 2023,
The total number of 323 entities includes 222 externally managed UCIs, 33 internally managed UCIs and 68 external fund managers. The total number of management companies includes 44 AIFMs, 49 sub-threshold AIFMs, three management companies for undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) and five dual-license entities (AIFMs and UCITS management companies).
Furthermore, the UCIs, managed by the management companies, had a net asset value (NAV) of €8.7 bln.
The 59% of the AUM relates to assets managed by the AIFMs, 18% by the AIFMs and UCITS management companies, 11% by the sub-threshold AIFMs, 11% by the UCITS management companies and only 1% by the regulated UCIs that are managed by foreign fund managers.
The 89.7% of UCITS’ assets under management was invested in transferable securities and 7.9% was invested in UCITS and other UCIs while 1.3% in bank deposits.
Regarding AIFs, AIFLNPs and RAIFs, 33.1% of the assets under management related to investments in private equity, while the investment in real estate represents the 12.7% of the AUM. Investments in hedge funds account for 9.8% while investments in funds of funds constitute 9.2% of the AUM of the total assets under management.
As regards geographical distribution, the CySEC report said that there are a total of 221 UCIs with operations.
Three quarters or 75.2% of the total AUM is held by 199 UCIs domiciled in Cyprus (12 UCITS, 50 AIFs, 43 AIFLNPs and 94 RAIFs). From the total 221 UCIs, 166 invest in Cyprus partially or entirely and these investments amount to €2.6 bln or 28.12% of the total assets under management. The 67.7% of the investments in Cyprus are in private equity, while the 14.3% are in real estate.
Giving a breakdown of the unitholders, the CySEC quarterly report added that the vast majority of UCITS are retail investors (99.1%), while for AIFs, AIFNLPs and RAIFs, two-thirds or 67.9% are well-informed investors, 19.5% are professional investors, and only 12.6% are retail investors.
Regarding the specific sectors that UCIs invested in, during the third quarter of 2024, AUM in the energy sector amounted to €505.9 mln (5.5% of total AUM), while €254 mln was invested in fintech (2.8% of total AUM), €722.1 mln in shipping (7.9% of total AUM) and €85.9 mln in sustainable investments (0.94% of total AUM).
The CySEC Quarterly Statistics Bulletin is available here.
