Allianz Global Investors is focusing increasingly on Europe and trying to attract third-party money there. By the end of the third quarter of 2005, AGI was managing €1.23 trillion in assets under management, making it the world’s second-largest investment manager. However, €523 billion of that was being managed on behalf of Allianz Insurance Group. Now, AGI intends to increase its third-party assets, and is counting on Europe as a source, according to Elizabeth Corley, head of AGI Europe.
Corley took on the newly created role in April, joining from Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, with the specific intention of developing AGI’s standing in Europe. Of its total assets under management, only a third presently comes from third-party European institutions, and 70% of that is based in Germany.
“Europe is the fastest-growing region in the world in terms of institutional assets, and we estimate that there will be an additional €100 billion of net inflows in Europe by 2010,” says Corley. “It’s only now that we have seriously started a strategy that should enable us to participate in this huge growth.”
Market share growth
According to Corley, foreign investment houses are in a good position to gain market share at the expense of domestic managers.
