December 31, 2007
Flows into LatAm equity surged in 2007, led by a dramatic pickup in allocations to Brazil funds in 2007, according to EPFR. LatAm saw inflows of $10.2bn in the year, compared to $3.3bn in 2006. Brazil accounted for $4.4bn of those flows, a figure that represents a nearly six fold increase from the $747m that flowed into the country in 2006, and which topped the list of net inflows in emerging market countries this past year. LatAm also had the best performance within the major EM fund regional groups, posting a collective gain of 59.9%. “While it was Latin America Equity and Brazil Country Funds that led the charge into the fourth quarter, GEM, BRICs Equity and Russia Country Funds were the ones with momentum going into 2008,” according to EPFR. “In the case of the GEM funds 78% of their 2007 net inflows came in 4Q07, while flows into both Russia Country and BRIC funds were modestly negative through 9M07.”