Ninety One will list two actively managed exchange-traded funds (AMETFs) on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 12 November, marking its entry into the growing local market for actively managed multi-asset ETFs.
The new funds – the Ninety One Diversified Income Prescient Feeder Actively Managed ETF (91DINC) and the Ninety One Global Diversified Income Prescient Feeder Actively Managed ETF (91GINC) – mirror the manager’s existing unit trust strategies and are designed to deliver income with a capital preservation bias.
According to Ninety One, the listings expand its ability to offer investors and advisers ways to access diversified, income-generating portfolios through listed instruments.
91DINC will provide investors with access to Ninety One’s established multi-asset income strategy in a Regulation 28-compliant format. The fund aims to achieve stable returns above cash while managing downside risk. It invests across South African bonds, credit, cash, property, and offshore assets, with income generation and capital preservation as its primary objectives.
91GINC, a rand feeder into a global United States dollar-based fund, provides offshore diversification through a low-duration, multi-asset income strategy. It targets a return of US dollar cash plus 1.5% over rolling 12-month periods, with the goal of avoiding negative returns over the same timeframe. The portfolio focuses on high-quality global fixed-income assets and incorporates currency diversification to manage volatility.
The funds will be actively managed, a differentiating factor from traditional passive ETFs that replicate indices. Ninety One said the portfolios will dynamically adjust to changing market conditions and draw on the research capabilities of its global fixed income and credit team, which manages more than R380 billion in assets.
Siobhan Simpson, the head of South African unit trusts at Ninety One, said the launch is intended to meet “the evolving needs of investors and advisers, particularly those who prefer listed instruments and value intraday liquidity”.
A growing space for active ETFs
The launch comes amid strong international and local growth in the ETF market. BlackRock’s Decoding Active ETFs report forecasts that global assets in active ETFs will triple to $4.2 trillion by 2030, with active strategies accounting for nearly 90% of new ETF launches this year.
Locally, South Africa’s ETF market has averaged annual growth of more than 18% over the past five years, reaching R285bn in assets under management by September 2025.
Ninety One said the growth of ETFs reflects investors’ increasing demand for flexible, transparent investment vehicles that offer both liquidity and cost efficiency. Regulatory changes have also made it possible to introduce actively managed versions of these products in South Africa, aligning the market with global trends.
For investors, the AMETF structure may offer a hybrid solution: the diversification and active oversight of a multi-asset strategy, combined with the trading ease of a listed product. It may also appeal to younger, tech-savvy investors who prefer managing portfolios through trading apps and value immediate market access.
Whether active ETFs will gain similar traction locally as they have globally remains to be seen, but Ninety One’s move suggests growing confidence in the potential of this segment of the market.
