Amundi Asset Management

The challenge: educate investors on attractive opportunities in fast-growing private markets

The unconventional monetary policies developed in response to the Global Financial Crisis had a significant impact on all asset classes. Long-term low bond yields and expensive yet volatile equities made investors look to other assets for better sources of risk-adjusted return.

This pushed Amundi to launch the Platform dedicated to Alternative and Real Assets (ARA) in 2016 and further develop its offering in alternative and real assets for three reasons:

1. They allow long-term investors to capture an illiquidity premium.
2. They aim to enhance income through a source of predictable returns.
3. They create diversification as they have low correlation to traditional asset classes.

They can also be used as an inflation hedge or volatility dampener in global portfolios.

Nevertheless, alternative and real assets remain notoriously harder to access and riskier for investors due to their private and more illiquid nature. Against this backdrop, Amundi recognized that reliable market data was a key element to successfully support its clients by providing education, information and easier access to private assets while delivering risk-adjusted performance for clients' alternative investment portfolios.

The requirements: transparency and reliable information at scale

To manage clients’ expectations in private markets, Amundi identified several requirements to fulfil when partnering with an alternative assets data provider:

1. Easy access to the best fund investment opportunities with granular information on the fundraising market.
2. Standardized information to ensure clients receive the best guidance on opportunities available.
3. Visibility on what’s happening in private markets throughout the investment lifecycle of the clients' portfolios.

Overall, the data and information on private markets need to be abundant, standardized and reliable.

The solution: a data provider that allows Amundi to focus on delivering the right solutions to its clients

With Preqin, Amundi has access to verified data and information that effectively support its Research, Investment and Sales & Marketing teams in private markets.

Research and Market Intelligence
Amundi’s Research Team is fully supported by Preqin who proactively screens private market participants and collects valuable and unique data. Amundi’s Research Team can trust it is providing clients with private markets information of the highest quality.

Sales & Marketing
Preqin’s research reports – like the biannual Investor Outlook – helps Amundi to better position its product offering through access to detailed analysis of investor sentiment, along with insight on investors’ views and concerns regarding private markets. This insight is essential to build and maintain long-lasting client relationships based on trust and confidence.

Additionally, Preqin's database is seen by Amundi as an essential marketing tool to enhance the communication and visibility of its expertise in alternative and real assets with LP and GP communities active in private markets.

Amundi is using the capabilities offered by Preqin's platform – Preqin Pro – to showcase its backgrounds in the various alternative asset classes and communicate before a fund is launched, during a fundraise and after a fund's final close.

Investment Teams
Amundi’s Private Markets Multi-management Team uses Preqin daily to support its fund screening and portfolio monitoring work.

The team appraises fund opportunities against similar funds currently in market or coming to market in the next 12 months. Preqin’s comprehensive coverage of alternatives provides Amundi with a full 360-degree view of fundraising markets.

Preqin’s customizable fund alerts, notifications and advanced search options save Amundi valuable time by delivering key information directly to them as it happens in real time. This allows Amundi to focus more on the opportunities that really match with its clients’ requirements.

Amundi also supports its clients’ portfolios with asset-liability management issues. Backed by Preqin’s 280,000+ lines of cash flow data covering 4,800+ private capital funds, Amundi can support its clients with forecasts of future capital calls and distributions.

Besides being valuable to ARA's multi-management team, Preqin’s research also allows Amundi's teams investing directly in real assets (real estate, infrastructure) or companies (private equity, private debt) to advise clients on strategic asset allocations based on macroeconomic data and industry updates on dry powder levels, transaction volume and more.

This allows Amundi to build the context around market conditions to provide clients with a clear view of their current portfolios, and a vision of what they would look like throughout the investment lifecycle.

Building the future of asset management

ARA’s integrated division of 220+ alternatives experts in origination, structuring, management and investor relations is heavily supported by Preqin's data to help Amundi achieve its European ambition of financing the real economy and becoming one of the leading alternative asset managers on the continent.

Preqin allows Amundi to stay ahead of investor trends and continuously support clients with easier access to more information on private markets.

This is demonstrated by Amundi’s lead on ESG policies. Its dedicated team of ESG analysts is supported by Preqin’s data on fund managers’ ESG policies, which is used to deliver innovative investment solutions to clients.

In five years, Amundi Real Assets has doubled its assets under management to reach a total of nearly €60bn (as of June 30th, 2021).

Why Amundi chose Preqin

• Abundant, standardized and reliable source of private markets data
• Easy access and clear visibility over private markets
• Supports Amundi's high standards for due diligence, fund screening and portfolio monitoring
• Provides insight into future fund investment opportunities and market trends
• Supports Amundi with powerful portfolio analytics
• Allows Amundi to stay aligned with investors' preferences over time
• Allows Amundi to build long-lasting client relationships by informing, educating and delivering performance in private markets

About Amundi

Amundi is the leading European asset manager and ranks in the top 10 globally with over €1,800bn in assets under management (AUM) across six main investment hubs in 35 countries. With several decades of experience in private markets and backed by a top-tier banking group (Crédit Agricole), Amundi launched a dedicated business line in 2016, Amundi Real Assets (ARA).

ARA provides investors with long-term innovative solutions across real estate, private debt, private equity and infrastructure. These investment solutions are based on a client-centric model and built with the high standards in risk management, quality and governance that stand as a trademark of the Amundi Group.