Cyprus Business Now

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) announced that there was an increase in the number of Management Companies and Undertakings of Collective Investments (UCIs) during the third quarter of 2022, which rose to 333 overall, while the assets under management amounted to €9.9 billion.

Based on the quarterly statistics bulletin for the third quarter of 2022 issued by the commission, CySEC is currently supervising 333 Management Companies and Undertakings of Collective Investments (UCIs), as opposed to 330 during the second quarter of the same year and 298 during the same period of the previous year, recording an increase of 0.90 per cent and 11.74 per cent respectively.

In addition, CySEC noted that from these 333 entities, 242 have operations.

The total number of 333 companies includes 212 Externally Managed UCIs, 43 Internally Managed UCIs and 78 External Fund Managers. The total number of Management Companies includes 46 AIFMs, 65 Sub-threshold AIFMs, 4 UCITS Management Companies and 6 dual license entities (AIFMs and UCITS Management Companies).

Based on the data for the third quarter of 2022, the Total Assets Under Management (AUM) reached €9.9 billion, recording a 7.2 per cent decrease since the 2nd quarter of 2022, whereas comparing with the same period in 2021, the decrease amounts to 14.7 per cent.

“The decrease in the value of investments is mainly due to devaluation of assets, redemptions of investment shares and asset disposals,” the commission said in a statement.

“Given the undesirable events and unforeseen circumstances of the last couple of years, the Undertakings of Collective Investments Sector could not stay unaffected,” it added.

The UCIs, managed by the Management Companies, had a Net Asset Value (NAV) of €8.9 billion.

Approximately, 62 per cent of the AUM relate to Assets managed by the AIFMs, 12 per cent by the Sub-threshold AIFMs, 17 per cent by the AIFMs and UCITS Management Companies, 8 per cent by the UCITS Management Companies and only 1 per cent by the Regulated UCIs that are managed by Foreign Fund Managers.

Approximately 81.7 per cent of UCITS Assets under Management were invested in Transferable Securities and 11 per cent in bank deposits, while 5.9 per cent were invested in UCITSs and UCIs.

Regarding AIFs, AIFLNPs and RAIFs 42.7 per cent of the Assets Under Management related to investments in Private Equity, while the investment in Hedge Funds represents 8.7 per cent of the AUM.

There is a total of 208 UCIs with operations. Comprising 85 per cent of the total AUM are 188 UCIs domiciled in Cyprus (13 UCITS, 56 AIF, 54 AIFLNP and 65 RAIF).

Of the total 208 UCIs, 166 invest in Cyprus partially or entirely and these investments amount to €2.4 billion or 23.8 per cent of the total Assets Under Management.

69.3 per cent of the investments in Cyprus are in private equity, while 12.4 per cent are in real estate.

In terms of categorising unitholders, the vast majority of UCITs are retail investors (98.8 per cent), while for AIF, AIFNLP and RAIF, 21.3 per cent of them are professional investors, 65.8 per cent well-informed investors and only 12.9 per cent retail investors.

Regarding the specific sectors that UCIs invested in, during the third quarter of 2022, assets under management (AUM) in the energy sector amounted to €386.4 million (3.9 per cent of total AUM), while €3.1 million was invested in Fintech (0.03 per cent of total AUM).

Finally, €117.7 million was invested in shipping (1.19 per cent of total AUM), €42.9 million in sustainable investments (0.4 per cent of total AUM) and €4.5 million in cryptocurrencies (0.04 per cent of total AUM).

The industrial producer price index in Cyprus increased by 22.4 per cent between January and December 2022, compared to the corresponding period in 2021, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat).

In December 2022, the index reached 138.6 points, with the base year being 2015, reflecting an increase of 0.3 per cent compared to November 2022, and an increase of 18.7 per cent compared to December 2021.

In December 2022, compared to November 2022, the index remained stable in the mining and quarrying and electricity supply sectors, while it recorded an increase in the manufacturing sector with a rise of 0.4 per cent.

There was a decrease of 1 per cent in the sector of water supply and material recovery.

Regarding the changes compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, increases have been observed across all sectors.

There was a 40.1 per cent increase in electricity supply, 14.3 per cent in mining and quarrying, 12.6 per cent in manufacturing and 4.9 per cent in water supply and material recovery.

In terms of each individual manufacturing sector, increases were recorded in all economic activities in December 2022, compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

The most noticeable changes took place in the production of non-metallic mineral products, where there was an increase of 19.8 per cent, in the food and beverage industry with 14.6 per cent, and in the wood industry with 13.2 per cent.

Moreover, there was a rise of 12.4 per cent in the manufacture of paper and paper products and printing, followed by the production of basic metals and manufacture of metal products with 12.4 per cent, as well as in the manufacturing of rubber products and plastics with an increase of 9.6 per cent.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Tuesday, January 31 with profits.

The general Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 97.59 points at 13:28 during the day, reflecting an increase of 0.41 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 58.94 points, representing an increase of 0.39 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €102,619.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the main and investment firm indexes rose by 0.62 per cent and 1.15 per cent respectively. The hotel index remained unchanged while the alternative index fell by 0.1 per cent.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by the Bank of Cyprus (+1.5 per cent), Hellenic Bank (-0.64 per cent), Demetra Holdings (+1.67 per cent), Logicom (+0.51 per cent), and Blue Island (-7.07 per cent).