From a sell-off sparked by worries over China to the Brexit surprise, European investment firms faced many headwinds this year. But for those willing to be nimble and keep an open mind about asset management, opportunities presented themselves.
Having unloaded noncore businesses and invested in technology under CEO Oliver Baete, Allianz Group is boosting its exposure to alternative investments, including infrastructure equity and debt in developed markets. Next year “will be driven by a slightly more benign environment — if protectionism can be avoided,” says CIO Andreas Gruber. “Moderate growth is a perfect scenario for equities and other real assets.”
For the third straight year, Allianz tops the Euro 100, Institutional Investor’s exclusive annual ranking of the region’s biggest investment managers, with roughly €1.83 trillion ($1.98 trillion) in assets as of June 30. AXA Group, BlackRock, UBS, and Amundi once again claim the next four spots.
To compile this ranking, Institutional Investor surveyed banks, insurance companies, independent fund managers, foreign money management firms with registered offices in Europe, hedge funds, and pension funds (internally managed). Companies headquartered in Europe were asked to report global assets under management. Non-European companies were asked to report only European-derived assets (invested domestically or internationally) and non-European assets slated for investment in Europe. Senior Research Editor Jane B. Kenney, assisted by Researcher Valentina McKenzie, gathered the data from questionnaires completed by the institutions themselves. We supplemented this information with additional reporting, annual reports, and follow-up e-mails and telephone calls.
The numbers are as comparable as possible given different accounting practices. Assets are stated in euros. In some cases assets at continental European institutions are higher than reported because their accounting rules require that they value assets at the lower of cost or market value. As a result of currency conversion and rounding, not all columns add up. Unless otherwise specified, asset figures are as of June 30 of 2016 and 2015, respectively. Totals for 2015 may differ from those previously published.