Amundi

Origins

At the end of 2008, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale decided to merge their respective asset management subsidiaries into a new company. Previously, these two subsidiaries, Crédit Agricole Asset Management and Société Générale Asset Management , had each managed a range of UCITS funds, consisting of bond funds, equity funds, alternative and structured products, as well as an array of ETFs.

A preliminary agreement was signed on 26 January 2009 between the two stakeholders, then a final agreement was signed on 9 July 2009, stipulating that Crédit Agricole would own 75% of the new company and Société Générale 25%, with it being managed by Yves Perrier, then CEO of CAAM. The name 'Amundi' was officially announced on 23 October 2009 The company was created on 1 January 2010 following permission from the European Commission to proceed with the merger. The merger of the two teams took place progressively over the course of 2010 and led to 260 jobs being cut globally, and the creation of about 60 new positions in risk management and commercial distribution.

With €670 billion of assets under management on the eve of its creation, Amundi emerged as the third largest European asset management company, behind Axa and Allianz, and became one of the top 10 biggest asset managers worldwide.

Development in Europe and the United States

Amundi's funds are primarily distributed through the banking networks of its majority shareholders: Crédit Agricole, LCL , Société Générale and Crédit du Nord , which collectively comprised more than 70% of Amundi's net inflows at inception, with the remainder being drawn from institutional investors. The company has been expanding its investor base over time. In 2015, more than 60% of its assets under management came from sources outside of these banking networks.

In 2012, Amundi drew up a distribution agreement with asset manager TOBAM and took a 10.6% stake in the company's capital .In June 2013, Amundi announced the acquisition of Smith Breeden Associates in the United States, which became effective in October 2013. The company, which specialises in managing bond funds in dollars, then managed approximately $6.4 billion, or €4.9 billion. As a result of the transaction, Smith Breeden Associates was renamed ‘Amundi Smith Breeden LLC’ and became the head office for Amundi's North American operations.

In October 2014, Amundi acquired 100% of the capital of Bawag PSK Invest, an investment management subsidiary of the Austrian bank Bawag PSK, marking the arrival of Amundi in the Austrian market. Bawag PSK Invest, which became part of the Amundi franchise, manages around €4.6 billion of assets through a range of 78 funds. The acquisition included an agreement with Bawag Bank PSK to distribute Amundi's funds through its network of around 500 branches in Austria. Shortly thereafter, Amundi announced the acquisition of 87.5% of the capital of Kleinwort Benson Investors, a Dublin-based investment management company with branches in Boston and New York with €7.6 billion of assets.During 2014, Crédit Agricole S.A. increased its stake in Amundi by acquiring 5% of the company's capital from Société Générale for €337.5 million. Crédit Agricole S.A. thereby gained control of 80% of Amundi's capital.

Initial public offering

On 17 June 2015, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale announced their intention to list Amundi on the stock market before the end of the year. The IPO enabled Société Générale to sell its 20% stake in the company and Crédit Agricole to sell 5%, remaining the majority shareholder with 75% of Amundi's overall share capital. Amundi Group was listed on the Euronext stock exchange on 12 November 2015 with a market capitalisation of 7.5 billion euros. The group's shares were priced at 45 euros per share and ended their first session at just above 47 euros. The press contrasted the success of the IPO with those of Deezer and Oberthur Technologies, both of which had to be cancelled prior to Amundi's flotation in the context of a difficult trading environment due to market turbulence in summer 2015.

Acquisition of Pioneer Investments

In December 2016, Amundi announced the 100% acquisition of Pioneer Investments, the asset management subsidiary of Italian bank UniCredit. Pioneer Investments was bought out for 3.5 billion euros. The transaction was financed by Amundi for 1.5 billion euros, via a €600 million debt issuance and a €1.4 billion capital increase guaranteed by Crédit Agricole. As a result of the transaction, Crédit Agricole held no more than 70% of Amundi's capital at the end of 2017, compared with 75% previously.

Following its completion on 3 July 2017, the transaction meant Amundi added €242.9 billion to its assets under management during the third quarter of 2017, increasing its overall AUM from €1,121 billion at the end of June 2017 to €1,400 billion at the end of September. Amundi consequently became the eighth largest asset management company in the world. At the end of 2017, Amundi managed €1,426 billion of assets.The acquisition enabled Amundi to expand its distribution network in Italy, Germany and Austria, where Pioneer Investments already had an established presence, while broadening its investment management expertise. Italy became Amundi's second largest market after France. In the United States, the name ‘Pioneer’ was retained and merged with Amundi's in order to create a new brand, ‘Amundi Pioneer’.

When the acquisition was announced, Amundi said it intended to reduce the combined workforce of the two companies by 450 people out of a total of 5,000 employees worldwide.

New acquisitions and partnerships

In 2020, Amundi acquired 100% of the Spanish company Sabadell AM , a subsidiary of Banco Sabadell. The transaction was carried out for an amount of 430 million euros and included a 10-year agreement with Banco Sabadell to distribute Amundi's funds in Spain. The same year, Amundi has started a partnership in China with BOC Wealth Management, a subsidiary of Bank of China, to create “Amundi BOC Wealth Management Company Limited”, a joint venture owned by Amundi and BOC Wealth Management .In 2021, Amundi announced the acquisition of Lyxor Asset Management from Société Générale for €825 million. The transaction enabled Amundi to integrate €148 billion of assets managed by Lyxor as of December 31, 2021. Lyxor's expertise in ETF management has enabled Amundi to develop its passive management business and to become the second largest ETF provider in Europe behind BlackRock. With the integration of Lyxor, Amundi has passed the threshold of €2 trillion under management by the end of 2021.