Ofi Invest, connecting institutionals with savers

Less than four months after the announcement of the merger of the activities of the Ofi group, Abeille Asset Management, Abeille REIM and Aéma REIM, Ofi Invest has been officially created and has been up and running since 1st January 2023.

This merger initiated in 2022 went through in record time and without sacrificing the quality of service that our clients have come to expect from us. Despite a challenging market environment, it achieved:

• net inflows of 2.7 billion euros;
• an increase in the number of French and European institutional clients.

As one of the Aéma Groupe’s four brands – alongside MACIF, Abeille Assurances and Aésio mutuelle – and as its sole asset management arm, Ofi Invest has 173.6 billion euros in assets under management and more than 600 employees (Ofi Invest figures as at end-December 2022) and ranks fifth (source: IPE rankings as at end-December 2021) among French asset managers. Its organisational set-up includes a wide range of expertise in listed and non-listed assets within a multi-expertise model under the following brands:

• Ofi Invest Asset Management, born of the merger, effective 1st January 2023, of Ofi Asset Management and Abeille Asset Management, with 151.1 billion euros in AuM(1) . Ofi Invest Asset Management encompasses liquid markets core portfolio management strategies featuring 70 managers and more than 50 analysts in equities, convertible bonds, rates, credit, diversified and money-market investments, as well as mandated investment solutions, and can call on the group’s various investment capabilities.
• Ofi Invest Real Estate now encompasses the real-estate management expertise of Aéma REIM, OFI Pierre, and Abeille REIM and the real-estate funds of Abeille Asset Management. This totals almost 13 billion euros in AuM in four European countries. These European-scale real-estate strategies encompass a broad range of market segments. Under the Ofi Invest Real Estate brand, it takes in all business lines in the real-estate management value chain, including Fund Management, Investment, Asset and Property.

In addition to these core portfolio and real-estate capabilities, Ofi Invest offers diversification strategies that cover a broad range of assets, with various sources of returns for investors, including:

• emerging markets with the Hong Kong-based Syncicap AM;
• private equity, energy transition infrastructure, and mezzanine debt with SWEN Capital Partners;
• private debt (corporate, real estate and infrastructure) in senior, unitranch and mezzanine with Zencap AM.

Taken altogether, these subsidiaries manage 9.7 billion euros (Ofi Invest figures as at end-December 2022) in assets.

With a full range of responsible investment solutions, Ofi Invest aims to assemble capabilities and create solutions adapted to all categories of investors and savers, both institutionals and individuals, while tapping into distribution networks and partners in France and internationally.

In the coming years, Ofi Invest plans to develop its ambitions around two main pillars:

• Continuing to win market share with institutionals and offering individual clients the top-tier expertise of an institutional asset manager. In merging various entities, this new group can tap into a broader range of retail clients. Ofi Invest now manages the savings of a broad swath of French clients through the wealth and diversity of its distribution networks and partners that covers more than 3 million of individuals. Under its new set-up the group can avail savers of all institutional solutions.
• Being a responsible and engaged investor with regards to investorclients, to companies and to society at large. This approach traces its roots back to the very profile of its mutualist shareholders, who are keenly aware of the importance of risk management in general and of environmental and social challenges in particular. With this in mind, Ofi Invest focuses on sustainable investment opportunities, while supporting companies in their ESG transformations, including in corporate governance. Finance plays a key role in accelerating investments towards forward-looking companies that are committed to the energy, environmental and social transition.

Looking at the longer term, the group also plans to strengthen its international footprint. Just three years after embarking on its international expansion with a dedicated strategy in Europe, Ofi Invest already has clients in eight countries in addition to France: Germany, Austria Belgium, Spain, Italy Luxembourg, Portugal, and Switzerland.

Jean-Pierre Grimaud, CEO of Ofi Invest: “The success of this project has been built on the goal of bringing together experts in responsible finance. It is also based on the commitment of our 600 employees who strive each day to make our group a benchmark offering multiple, complementary services to benefit our institutional investors and individual savers. Ofi Invest has moved up to the next level to derive greater value out of what makes us unique – our design of innovative funds, our quality of service, our proximity with clients, and our ability to offer investment solutions adapted to all our clients. Ofi Invest also endeavours to be a local player that is engaged with its ecosystem and is confident that innovation is the key to more responsible finance.”

Press contacts