The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) on Wednesday reported a positive growth trend in the Collective Investments sector for the first quarter of 2023, with the number of Management Companies and Undertakings of Collective Investments (UCIs) reaching 335 and the Total Assets Under Management (AUM) totalling €10.7 billion.  According to the quarterly statistics bulletin released by CySEC, the number of supervised Management Companies and UCIs rose from 333 in Q4 2022 to 335 in Q1 2023, indicating a 0.60 per cent increase compared to the previous quarter and a 4.03 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2022. Among these entities, 252 are operational.  The 335 entities encompass 223 Externally Managed UCIs, 39 Internally Managed UCIs, and 73 External Fund Managers. In addition, there are 46 Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMs), 57 Sub-threshold AIFMs, 3 UCITS Management Companies, and 6 dual license entities that operate as both AIFMs and UCITS Management Companies.  For the first quarter of 2023, the Total Assets Under Management experienced a 12.44 per cent increase compared to the previous quarter, reaching €10.7 billion. However, when compared to the same period in 2022, there was a slight decrease of 3.7 per cent.  Out of the AUM, approximately 67 per cent are managed by AIFMs, 14 per cent by AIFMs and UCITS Management Companies, 10 per cent by Sub-threshold AIFMs, 8 per cent by UCITS Management Companies, and 1 per cent by Regulated UCIs managed by Foreign Fund Managers.  When analysing the specific investments of UCIs, approximately 89.4 per cent of UCITS Assets under Management were invested in Transferable Securities, 5.3 per cent in UCITSs and UCIs, and 4.2 per cent in bank deposits.  For AIFs, AIFLNPs, and RAIFs, 45.7 per cent of the Assets Under Management were invested in Private Equity, while Hedge Funds accounted for 11.5 per cent of the AUM. Investments in Funds of Funds represented 9.5 per cent, and Real Estate investments constituted 9.2 per cent of the AUM.  Of the 219 UCIs with operations, 77 per cent of the total AUM is held by 195 UCIs domiciled in Cyprus, with 13 UCITS, 56 AIFs, 52 AIFLNPs, and 74 RAIFs. Of these, 170 UCIs partially or entirely invested in Cyprus, amounting to €2.5 billion, which represents 23.6 per cent of the total Assets Under Management in the country. The majority of investments in Cyprus are in Private Equity (74.8 per cent) and Real Estate (11.7 per cent).  Regarding unitholders, UCITS had the majority of retail investors (98.9 per cent), while for AIFs, AIFNLPs, and RAIFs, 66 per cent were well-informed investors, 20.9 per cent were professional investors, and only 13.1 per cent were retail investors.  During the first quarter of 2023, the Energy sector attracted AUM of €365.2 million (3.414 per cent of total AUM), Fintech received €61.6 million (0.576 per cent of total AUM), Shipping had €576.6 million (5.391 per cent of total AUM), and Sustainable Investments secured €70.9 million (0.663 per cent of total AUM). (ICE BEIRUT)

Fonte notizia: Cyprus Mail