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Europe’s biggest asset manager Amundi is taking a 9.9 per cent stake in London-based ICG as it steps up efforts to grow its private credit business.
The French group, which also said it would launch a share buyback, did not give financial details of its offer, but a 10 per cent stake in listed private credit specialist and private equity firm ICG would be worth about £550mn at Monday’s closing price.
Executives at Amundi said about half the stake would be bought on the market, while ICG would issue non-voting shares in a second step in order not to dilute existing investors’ stakes. Amundi also announced it would form a strategic 10-year partnership with ICG.
Amundi, which has pitched itself as a “consolidator” in the asset management industry, clinched a series of smaller acquisitions last year but missed out on larger targets. It is also grappling with the potential end of its partnership with UniCredit. Amundi manages almost €70bn of the Italian bank’s assets under the deal but the contract is up for renewal in 2027.
Amundi chief executive Valérie Baudson said the distribution deal with ICG, which has $124bn of assets under management, would give the asset manager and its parent, Crédit Agricole, the French bank, more access to the private credit sector.
Amundi and ICG will initially focus on developing two European-focused funds. “It opens up particularly promising development prospects on private assets,” Baudson said.
The group was aiming for another €300mn in inflows by 2028, with half of those coming from Asia, it said on Tuesday as part of a strategy update.
In 2024 Amundi signed a strategic partnership with Victory Capital to increase its investment and distribution presence in the US and also bought Zurich-based Alpha Associates, which offers funds of funds in private markets.
But it missed out on targets such as Axa Investment Managers, bought by France’s BNP Paribas in a €5.1bn deal. BNP has already said it would be interested in a deal with UniCredit if the distribution agreement with Amundi ended.
Amundi’s relationship with UniCredit took a knock after Crédit Agricole helped Banco BPM, in which it has built a stake, avoid a takeover attempt this year by the larger Italian lender. UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel has not ruled out extending the Amundi partnership but the bank has also been reducing Amundi funds in client portfolios to boost UniCredit’s own fees.
Amundi was created in 2010 through the merger of the asset management arms of Crédit Agricole — still its controlling shareholder — and French rival Société Générale. Since then it has grown through acquisitions and a strong run of organic growth, with €2.3tn of assets now under management.
