Abu Dhabi government-owned Invest AD on Monday said it was launching a $100 million fund  with Japanese financial services firm SBI Holdings to invest in Africa.

The new fund, seeded equally by both companies, will focus on Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco and will invest in a broad range of sectors, a statement from Invest AD said.

The fund has a mandate to invest in listed equities, initial public offerings (IPOs), as well as pre-IPO and unlisted equity.

The jointly-run fund management company plans to launch additional funds that will be open to third party investors with strong interest expected in Asia, the statement said.

'Fundamentals in the region are strong. There is improved stability, and we see immense future wealth potential - not only as a supplier of raw materials, but also in the growth of consumerism and in manufacturing bases,' Nazem Fawwaz Al Kudsi, chief executive of Invest AD said in the statement.

Invest AD, owned by the Abu Dhabi government, has also established partnerships with BHF-BANK in Germany, the Korean Development Bank, and Hong Kong's Quam.

African equity funds have attracted net new cash in 51 of the last year's 52 weeks, underscoring the evolution of the continent's frontier markets as a serious investment play.

According to the Washington-based fund tracker, EPFR Global, a net $660 million flowed into African regional funds over the last 12 months - not vast sums on the global scale but far more than Africa has ever attracted in the past.-Reuters