The Art Newspaper has discovered a collaboration between a Chinese entrepreneur and a South African fund manager to create an African art fund that closely tracks the new Zeitz museum:

The Scheryn Art Collectors Fund, which will invest in artists from Africa and its diaspora, has been set up by the South African investment manager Herman Steyn and the Chinese-born, South Africa-based businessman Dabing Chen.

It costs a minimum R500,000 (around $40,500) to buy into the fund and annual management charges are 2%. There is no time limit for investments, but Steyn says that those hoping for a quick return should look elsewhere. […] Steyn and his partner have provided initial funding of R20m ($1.6m) and hope to raise a total R500m ($40.5m).

Steyn says that the trustees of the Scheryn art fund will be advised by a board of art experts and they intend to buy the work of “well established artists who give you more reliable price appreciation; middle tier artists who we believe are going to emerge; and then some really new, young artists”. […]

Dabing is the founder of the Chensia group of companies, which has interests in mining, jewellery and wine, and trades goods between South Africa and China. He has also set up cultural initiatives between the two countries. Meanwhile, Steyn is a director at Prescient, the only African investment fund that has a licence to invest in Chinese markets.

Africa is the new China, so it must be time for a dedicated art fund (The Art Newspaper)