Investment Associate, Asia Funds, CDC

Job Title	Investment Associate, Asia Funds
Employer	CDC
Job Type	Full Time
Location	London, UK
Industry	Investment Banking
Experience	0-3 Years
Languages	English
Deadline	Saturday 27th February 2016

Background to CDC

CDC is the UK’s Development Finance Institution (DFI) tasked with the inspiring mission to invest in businesses in Africa and South Asia to create jobs and make a lasting difference to people’s lives in some of the world’s poorest places.

Established in 1948, CDC is the world’s oldest DFI and has a proud heritage supporting the building of successful businesses across emerging and frontier markets.

CDC is currently going through an exciting transformation, which has seen it extend the range of its activities to include direct equity investing and direct lending alongside its fund selection business. Between 2004 and 2011 CDC operated as a funds investor only.

Wholly owned by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), CDC plays a key role in DFID’s strategy to reduce poverty in the developing world by supporting economic growth and creating jobs.

In recognition of CDC’s high quality and developmental approach to investing, DFID recently announced a significant new capital injection of £735 million into CDC. Prior to this, since 1948 the UK Government had invested a net £144 million into CDC, which had been turned into net assets of £3.4 billion. The new investment will allow CDC to invest on a greater scale in job-creating sectors such as agribusiness, infrastructure, financial institutions and construction.

CDC takes a wholly commercial approach to its investing and lending activities, but, as a DFI, each investment is motivated by the development impact it will achieve. As it invests from its own balance sheet, CDC has considerable flexibility in how it structures investments and in the risk-return profiles it can consider. It is also able to take a longer view - up to and beyond ten years if necessary. CDC is currently invested in over 1,300 companies in 74 countries.

CDC invests in a number of ways:
- placing capital with fund managers (GPs) who then use their local knowledge and expertise to find promising businesses in which to invest;
- making direct investments or co-investing in specific businesses, alongside local GPs or like-minded investors; and
- making loans, guarantees and offering micro-finance support.

To achieve its vision and mandate, CDC is looking to build its team and, in particular, attract high quality investment professionals who are motivated to use their skills to develop the private sector in Africa and South Asia.
For further information, see www.cdcgroup.com

Role Requirements

Role Purpose
• Support senior members in portfolio management of the Asia Funds portfolio, , including actively monitoring the financial performance and development impact of the funds and their compliance with CDC’s investment policy

• Part of deal team that analyses and completes new proposals to invest in Asia funds, with the objective of selecting fund managers with the most potential financial and developmental impact

• Reviewing all aspects of fund commitment agreements and assisting in the negotiation process, including working with CDC’s Environmental and Social, Business Integrity, Development Impact, Legal and Finance teams in support of both fund selection and relationship management

• Taking a pro-active approach to identify problems of under-performance and/or non-compliance at fund manager level, including in relation to Environmental, Social and Governance standards, and to propose solutions to the deal lead

• Assist in monitoring of development impact of each relevant fund

• Keep up to date deal flow, deal management and portfolio monitoring databases for all funds on which he/she is a team member

• Maintaining up-to-date market knowledge and sharing the same within the team and CDC more broadly

• Develop, with assistance from other team members, geographic and sector mapping presentations to support strategic initiatives

• Assist in preparing presentations to support CDC’s brand building with stakeholders

Key Responsibilities

Current investment performance and compliance
• active engagement with the relevant fund managers (General Partners) and other investors (Limited Partners)
• formally, through the receipt of quarterly financial information; this may also include supporting the deal lead in advisory board meetings,
• informally through regular dialogue with the fund managers, other investors, and other organizations active in the regional business community
• supporting the work of the deal lead or other senior team members on each fund relationship
• supporting analysis and creating frameworks for analysis under the guidance and supervision of other colleagues

Evaluating new investment opportunities
• assisting in the design and implementation of market scoping studies as relevant
• support building an effective network in the Asia funds business
• assisting in the process to catalyse new funds
• assisting in the selection of funds which will meet CDC’s objectives under its development grid, including utilising CDC internal tools for mapping proposals
• reviewing proposals and preparing screening papers and, where relevant, assisting in the due diligence process on fund proposals, post due diligence papers and investment recommendations
• assisting in the preparation of recommendations to CDC’s CEO and Board of Directors, via the Investment Committee as well as presenting proposals to the IC

Reviewing documentation and assisting in fund commitment negotiations
• working with fund managers and other investors to achieve this
• including fee and incentive arrangements, reporting, the powers of the management company and its relationship with investors
• including CDC’s side letter
• seeking input early from Environmental and Social, Business Integrity, Development Impact, Finance and Legal teams and, in conjunction with those teams, scoping their role in the investment process of each new fund

Monitoring investment performance and compliance
• reporting on the financial performance, compliance and any other issues that relate to funds on which he/she is second or third pair of eyes to the deal lead
• monitoring the degree of ESG risk in each fund portfolio, and monitoring the quality and effectiveness of each GP’s ESG management systems against the requirements of CDC’s Investment Code.

Development impact monitoring
• assist in the monitoring of funds’ development impact, liaising with the ESG Manager and Development Impact team

Maintaining up-to-date market knowledge
• Develop expertise on conditions in relevant Asian countries
• Specifically the economic, political and social conditions in Asian markets where CDC’s funds operate, or potentially wish to operate

Environmental and Social Responsibility (ESR) Considerations

• As an employee of CDC, you must be aware of the importance of ESR considerations and support the continued delivery of CDC’s ESR compliance process.

• As a member of an investment team, you should ensure that CDC’s investments are made to maximize their development impact (financial, economic and ESR performance and private sector development). You will need to give certain attention and devote time to ensuring that ESR performance of deals are appropriately managed and that all CDC’s fund managers adhere to CDC’s Investment Code on ESG and apply it consistently in all investment activities.

• ESG matters should also be addressed in your ongoing dealings with fund managers and portfolio companies and in particular during site visits.

• CDC provides regular ESR training on relevant topics and issues throughout the year which, as a member of the investment team, you will be expected to attend.

Candidate background, Competencies & Identities

Candidate generic values/ traits
Candidates must be strongly motivated by CDC’s proposition. This requires:

• An awareness of and appreciation for CDC’s objectives, outside of personal motivations and strongly motivated by these aims
• Some evidence of these values is useful (E.g., volunteering, career changes due to changing motivations)
• An appreciation of what CDC is doing and a real desire and passion to be part of the next phase of development that CDC embarked upon in 2011/2012
• History of working with ‘best in class’ employers in their respective fields
• Appropriate periods with each previous employer and explicable career moves
• the flexibility and desire to spend time in the countries in which CDC invests
• An understanding of the remuneration and its structure, with the trade-offs it requires and a level-headed degree of long-term comfort with it

Candidate Background

• Strong academic credentials, preferably including a post-graduate qualification such as CFA, ACA, IMC, MBA or equivalent.
• Significant relevant business experience. Exposure to emerging market finance, especially in Africa and Asia, is desirable

• Experience within private equity and/or fund-of-funds management or consulting is desirable
• Report writing, good business communication and presentation skills is imperative
• Analytical, research and valuation skills, including the ability to analyse company reports, sector data, economics and relevant political events.
• Ability to work to deadlines and manage time effectively
• An active interest in investing in developing countries.
• Demonstrable alignment with CDC mandate, mission and values

Required competencies

• Ability to analyse and bench-mark fund / investment performance reports / data
• Potential to develop relationships with fund management teams
• Understanding of Fund assessment skills
- Familiarity with: PPMs, diligence processes, financial terms, legal terms
- Understanding of monitoring and ongoing relationships
• Understanding of emerging market environments
• Relationship building within and across different teams internally
• Strong analytical writing skills

Core personal skills
• Strong team working skills
• Focus on achievement of objectives
• Strong written and oral presentation skills
• Willingness to learn and flexibility

CDC Identities

We look for candidates that share our culture and reflect our identity, the CDC identities are described as follows:

• Compassion is central to everything we do
• We owe our clients and prospective clients a fast and thoughtful process
• We accept the tough challenges inherent in our mission
• We are quick and non-defensive when things go wrong
• We oppose bureaucracy
• We never forget that we are investing and spending
• We promote a fulfilling work environment

For further information please see our website (www.cdcgroup.com)

Salary package from: £46,590

Application deadline: 10 March, 2016

About CDC

CDC is the world’s oldest development finance institution and has a proud heritage in supporting the building of successful businesses across poor and emerging markets.  Having had a focused strategy over the past 8 years as an investor (LP) in private equity funds (GPs) in emerging markets, it is going through an exciting transformation that will extend the range of its activities to include direct equity investing and direct lending alongside its fund selection business.  The mission of CDC is to:-

To support the building of businesses and creation of jobs in the world’s poorest countries across Africa and South Asia, making a lasting difference to people’s lives.

CDC takes a wholly commercial approach to its investing and lending activities, but, as a DFI, is ultimately motivated by the development impact of its investing activities. As it invests from its own balance sheet, it has considerable flexibility in how it structures investments and in the risk – return profiles it can consider.   It is also able to take a longer view – up to and beyond 10 years if that is necessary.

CDC is wholly owned by the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and plays a key role in DFID’s strategy to help build a thriving private sector in the developing world.  It is a measure of CDC’s high quality investment processes that despite investing in regions of the world that are typically considered very high risk,  it has received no fresh investment from government since 1995 and has returned a profit (which has been reinvested) of £1.8bn since 2004. 

CDC invests in a number of ways:

- placing capital with expert fund managers (GPs) who then use their local knowledge and expertise to find promising businesses in which to invest;

- making direct investments or co-investing in specific businesses, alongside local GPs or like-minded investors; and

- making loans, guarantees and offering micro-finance support