(NEWSManagers.com)
– Axa Investment Managers was among the rare management companies to come out of 2022 virtually unscathed. The management subsidiary of the Axa group indeed recorded positive net inflows of 17 billion euros over the year, in the green every quarter. “Our operational model has proven its relevance and its strength,” rejoices Marco Morelli, executive chairman of Axa IM.
Assets under management are down 7% compared to the end of 2021 and amount to 824 billion euros, reflecting a “significant” negative market effect
Operating income remained stable at 348 million euros. The fall in turnover (-4% to 1.42 billion euros) due to the decline in outstandings was partly offset by a greater contribution from joint ventures as well as those of Axa IM Prime and Capza , a company specializing in private equity and of which Axa IM is the majority shareholder.
Axa IM underwent major changes last year with the aim of bringing together all the asset management activities of the Axa group. It thus recovered nearly 17 billion euros in private equity and infrastructure funds of funds, in private debt and in hedge funds in particular, hitherto managed at the level of the parent company Axa by Pascal Christory. Everything has been grouped together in an Axa IM platform, called Axa IM Prime for Private Markets Enabler and which now weighs some 30 billion euros. It has 5 billion in commitments to deploy over the next three years.
The manager also recovered the 29 billion euros in assets from Architas, a structure that deals with the selection of funds for unit-linked insurers around the world.
However, these outstandings are not included in the 824 billion at the end of December since the creation of the operational entity has only been effective since January 1, 2023.
External assets
This heritage has not prevented the group from progressing in its objective of increasing the share of external customers (not from the insurer Axa), quite the contrary, according to Marco Morelli. “Two years ago, 61% of our outstandings came from Axa’s balance sheet. Today it is 52%. The goal with the new Prime expertise is to accelerate even more on outstandings managed on behalf of third parties, ”he explains to Newsmanagers. Finally, 2022 also means the launch of an ETF activity for the group, actively managed. A size in the sector has been recruited in order to accelerate sales in the person of Olivier Paquier. Only three vehicles have been launched so far, but outstandings have already reached 1 billion euros. Marco Morelli aims for double-digit growth each year for assets under management.
Its ambition for growth will be achieved essentially organically, but the ongoing consolidation of the sector has not escaped the manager. “When it comes to acquisitions, the rule of the game will be whether a potential transaction can accelerate our growth vis-à-vis third-party customers. But for the moment, we have not identified any interesting opportunities,” he concludes.