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France’s Natixis Investment Managers, which has $1.3tn in assets under management, and Italian insurer Generali are in early-stage talks about a potential tie-up, according to several people familiar with the situation.
The talks may lead to the creation of a new asset management joint venture co-owned by Natixis and Generali, one of the people said, adding that neither group wants to sell.
Groupe BPCE, the owner of Natixis, signalled in June that it was open to partnerships for the business, while Generali has capital to deploy and has made growing its asset management arm a priority.
Generali had €663bn in assets under management as of June 30, of which €252bn is managed for third-party clients and the remainder for its parent insurer.
It is not certain that the talks between Natixis and Generali will lead to any agreement, the people said. Natixis, Generali and Groupe BPCE declined to comment.
The talks illustrate how leading players in the asset management industry are turning to strategic partnerships to scale up and expand distribution, while stopping short of full-blown mergers.
Natixis operates a multi-boutique model, which takes majority stakes in smaller investment companies that continue to be run by their original management.
The group is seeking to increase market share in France, expand in the US and grow its private assets platform.
In June, BPCE indicated its willingness to consider partnerships for Natixis, saying that it sought “critical size attained in each area of strategic expertise, particularly by setting up new partnerships”.
Generali’s chief executive Philippe Donnet has reorganised the group this year around asset management and insurance. The company acquired US asset manager Conning from Cathay Life last year in what Donnet described as a “transformative” transaction.
In August, Donnet told investors that Generali would focus on building a global asset management platform and remained “convinced of the power of the combination between life insurance and asset management”.
Minority shareholders including the Italian billionaire Del Vecchio family holding Delfin, and Rome-based Caltagirone group, have complained about Generali’s small size compared with European insurers such as Zurich and Axa.
In a sign of the pressures in the industry, French insurer Axa agreed to sell its investment management arm to BNP Paribas for €5.1bn this year, deeming it subscale.
Additional reporting by Ian Smith in London
https://www.ft.com/content/766a7ad5-baf4-46fb-aa8f-26c340aae85a
