Financial News
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
28 Jul 2008
Russia’s crowded asset management arena is getting busier. France’s Société Générale Asset Management is the latest foreign investment business to explore launching funds there, as firms are attracted by the wealth being generated within the country.
Benelux’s Fortis, Germany’s Allianz, Italy’s Pioneer Investments, Austria’s Raiffeisen, Germany’s DWS, Iceland’s Glitnir and Baltic manager Parex have all launched Russia-domiciled funds in the past few years.
Russia’s emerging middle class and a boom in commodity prices have led to annual growth in retail asset management of 50% a year.
Société Générale Asset Management, which manages more than £262bn (€332.7bn) worldwide, may be about to join the fray by setting up a retail operation in Moscow, according to sources. It is believed to have applied to the main regulator, the Federal Financial Markets Service, for an asset management license.
Société Générale declined to comment on whether it was poised to enter the Russian fund market. A Paris spokeswoman said: “SGAM continues to study the various opportunities to intervene on the Russian market.”
The French group has distribution in Russia through its control of retail bank Rosbank, which has a network in most of the country’s regions.
However, domestic fund managers such as Troika Dialog Asset Management, which manages more than $10bn (€6.4bn) in retail, institutional and government funds, are sceptical of the chances of foreign participants succeeding. Pavel Teplukhin, chief executive of Troika Dialog Asset Management, said: “I assume that all of the global players will be in Russia pretty soon. Quite a number of global asset managers already operate in Russia and their success is rather mixed.”
Troika is Russia’s market leader in the management of retail funds, known as personal investment funds or PIFs. Teplukhin, who helped draft the Russian Federal Law on mutual funds, believes a lack of brand recognition is the greatest hurdle for foreign fund firms.
He added: “Their names are not familiar to the Russian audience and it is hard for the management of these banks to understand that. It would take a while before they can provide potential clients with a clear Russian record and before they win some brand recognition. Current market sentiments are not helpful either.”
One way for foreign funds to overcome the brand issue is to partner with a local institution.
Benelux’s Fortis and Germany’s Allianz have gone down this route with their tie-ups with St Petersburg-based investment bank KIT, and Rosno, which has a successful insurance business.
KIT Fortis, the fund management joint venture, has grown rapidly in assets under management to 60bn roubles (€1.6bn) since its launch in May last year. KIT Fortis has distribution agreements with more than 60 agents, such as VTB 24 and Citibank, in 650 outlets across Russia.
The growth in assets was helped by the transfer to the company of €640m ($1bn) from existing Fortis international funds and segregated accounts in the Nordic region. The assets were transferred under the terms of the acquisition of Fortis Investments of Dutch fund manager ABN Amro Asset Management.
Vladimir Kirillov, chief executive of KIT Fortis Investments, said the transfer of funds from ABN Amro was based on the success of its first Russia-domiciled equity fund. He said: “The fact that a large institutional client deposited €150m in the funds after the decision to transfer them to our company speaks for itself.”
Joint venture Allianz Rosno Asset Management, which has benefited from the expertise of the German group’s Allianz Global Investors, has grown to assets under management of about $700m.
It was one of five managers awarded 1.5bn roubles by the Russia Venture Company, which was set up by the Government to revitalise Russia’s industrial base.
Pioneer Investments, the funds subsidiary of Italy’s UniCredit, has set up a Moscow operation and hired local managers to run its domestic fund range. Austria’s Raiffeisen Capital Management, which manages €40bn, is one of the few foreign participants with brand recognition through its Russian retail banking network and its acquisition last year of Impexbank, Russia’s seventh largest bank.
Raiffeisen, which has been investing in Russia since 1994, has a local fund management subsidiary staffed by three fund managers and two analysts. Through Raiffeisen Capital Moscow, Russians are being offered locally domiciled bond and equity funds.
wwww.efinancialnews.com
Showing posts with label Pioneer Investments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pioneer Investments. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Fund Giant to Launch Retail Funds in Russia
Wealth Briefing
November 22, 2007
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
Fund giant Pioneer Investments is to launch its first Russian domiciled retail funds in Moscow in January.
A senior source close to Pioneer's parent group UniCredit told WealthBriefing: "We will soft launch funds in January and then go public in February."
Elena Loginova, previously chief executive of DWS Investments in Russia, has been hired to lead the business.
Pioneer Investments also plans to offer separate accounts for high net worth individuals, as well as products for institutional clients.
Karen Kesoyan has also been hired as head of marketing from Troika Dialog.
Unicredit is also rebranding its Russian subsidiaries Aton Capital and International Moscow Bank (IMB) but dismissed speculation of a merger.
Unicredit Aton, acquired late last year for $424 million, will focus on brokerage, capital markets origination, research and M&A advisory.
IMB, acquired by Unicredit's Bank Austria unit, will be rebranded as UniCredit Bank and will run fixed income, foreign exchange and money markets activities.
A Unicredit spokeswoman in Milan, told WealthBriefing: "There are currently no plans to merge the two banks. UniCredit via IMB and Aton will open new perspectives for local Russian clients as well as for investors into the Russian market.
"Just like in other Central Eastern Europe countries, UniCredit envisages becoming one of the leading providers of highly sophisticated products and services with a strong local foothold."
Rebranding is expected to start by year-end and will be accompanied by an advertising campaign in Russia and international media.
UniCredit last week paid $2.1 billion for a 91.8 per cent stake in Kazakhstan's ATF Bank, the country's fifth largest.
The group said the deal, which is the biggest foreign investment to date outside Kazakhstan's oil sector, would provide "a hub" for Unicredit to advance deep into central Asia.
November 22, 2007
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
Fund giant Pioneer Investments is to launch its first Russian domiciled retail funds in Moscow in January.
A senior source close to Pioneer's parent group UniCredit told WealthBriefing: "We will soft launch funds in January and then go public in February."
Elena Loginova, previously chief executive of DWS Investments in Russia, has been hired to lead the business.
Pioneer Investments also plans to offer separate accounts for high net worth individuals, as well as products for institutional clients.
Karen Kesoyan has also been hired as head of marketing from Troika Dialog.
Unicredit is also rebranding its Russian subsidiaries Aton Capital and International Moscow Bank (IMB) but dismissed speculation of a merger.
Unicredit Aton, acquired late last year for $424 million, will focus on brokerage, capital markets origination, research and M&A advisory.
IMB, acquired by Unicredit's Bank Austria unit, will be rebranded as UniCredit Bank and will run fixed income, foreign exchange and money markets activities.
A Unicredit spokeswoman in Milan, told WealthBriefing: "There are currently no plans to merge the two banks. UniCredit via IMB and Aton will open new perspectives for local Russian clients as well as for investors into the Russian market.
"Just like in other Central Eastern Europe countries, UniCredit envisages becoming one of the leading providers of highly sophisticated products and services with a strong local foothold."
Rebranding is expected to start by year-end and will be accompanied by an advertising campaign in Russia and international media.
UniCredit last week paid $2.1 billion for a 91.8 per cent stake in Kazakhstan's ATF Bank, the country's fifth largest.
The group said the deal, which is the biggest foreign investment to date outside Kazakhstan's oil sector, would provide "a hub" for Unicredit to advance deep into central Asia.
Friday, 3 August 2007
Pioneer sets up shop in Moscow
Financial News
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
03 August 2007
Pioneer Investments, the funds arm of Italian bank UniCredit, is setting up an asset management operation in Moscow after failing to buy domestic player PioGlobal.
Pioneer, which has more than $326bn (€236bn) in assets, will launch four investment funds by September after being granted an asset management licence from the Federal Financial Markets Service, the Russian regulator.
The move to set up on its own follows Pioneer's failure to buy back PioGlobal Asset Management, which it established in 1995. Pioneer withdrew as a shareholder in PioGlobal following the former’s merger with Italy's UniCredit in 2000.
PioGlobal was subsequently acquired by US invsestors Harbor Global in 2000 before being sold to Russian bank CIT Finance last August for $71m. The business was sold this year to Russia's Antanta Capital for $80m so CIT could focus on its joint venture with Belgium's Fortis.
A banker close to the Harbor sale: "Pioneer made an offer to Harbor but it offered less than half than the eventual sale price."
Michael Vasileff, a business development director, is recruiting investment managers, having moved to Moscow to head Pioneer's Russian office.
One local fund executive suggested Vasileff would need to hire a minimum of 50 staff, including fund managers and back office personnel.
"They will need to spend heavily on marketing and public relations and it is much tougher to find good fund managers than bankers here. There are only four or five with any kind of record over the medium term," said the source.
A Pioneer spokesman declined to comment on its Russian plans.
UniCredit, Pioneer's Italian parent, is also making a push into retail and investment banking in Russia. Chief executive Alessandro Profumo said the group will double the number of branches belonging to its subsidiary International Moscow Bank to more than 100.
The eastern European arm of UniCredit last month completed the acquisition of Russian brokerage Aton Capital. It plans to offer underwriting and merger advice in addition to corporate lending.
www.efinancialnews.com
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
03 August 2007
Pioneer Investments, the funds arm of Italian bank UniCredit, is setting up an asset management operation in Moscow after failing to buy domestic player PioGlobal.
Pioneer, which has more than $326bn (€236bn) in assets, will launch four investment funds by September after being granted an asset management licence from the Federal Financial Markets Service, the Russian regulator.
The move to set up on its own follows Pioneer's failure to buy back PioGlobal Asset Management, which it established in 1995. Pioneer withdrew as a shareholder in PioGlobal following the former’s merger with Italy's UniCredit in 2000.
PioGlobal was subsequently acquired by US invsestors Harbor Global in 2000 before being sold to Russian bank CIT Finance last August for $71m. The business was sold this year to Russia's Antanta Capital for $80m so CIT could focus on its joint venture with Belgium's Fortis.
A banker close to the Harbor sale: "Pioneer made an offer to Harbor but it offered less than half than the eventual sale price."
Michael Vasileff, a business development director, is recruiting investment managers, having moved to Moscow to head Pioneer's Russian office.
One local fund executive suggested Vasileff would need to hire a minimum of 50 staff, including fund managers and back office personnel.
"They will need to spend heavily on marketing and public relations and it is much tougher to find good fund managers than bankers here. There are only four or five with any kind of record over the medium term," said the source.
A Pioneer spokesman declined to comment on its Russian plans.
UniCredit, Pioneer's Italian parent, is also making a push into retail and investment banking in Russia. Chief executive Alessandro Profumo said the group will double the number of branches belonging to its subsidiary International Moscow Bank to more than 100.
The eastern European arm of UniCredit last month completed the acquisition of Russian brokerage Aton Capital. It plans to offer underwriting and merger advice in addition to corporate lending.
www.efinancialnews.com
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