Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) is a global

investment management Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various Security (finance), securities, including shareholdings, Bond (finance), bonds, and other assets, such as r ...

firm. It operates as the investment arm for

Axa Axa S.A. is a French multinational insurance corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services via its subsidiaries. As of 2024, it is the fourth largest financi ...

, a global

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

and

reinsurance Reinsurance is insurance that an insurance company purchases from another insurance company to insulate itself (at least in part) from the risk of a major claims event. With reinsurance, the company passes on ("cedes") some part of its own insu ...

company.

History

In 1994, Axa created an investment management subsidiary under the name, Axa Asset Management. It operated separately from the

business lines and was headed by Jean-Pierre Hellebuyck. In 1997, Henri de Castries launched AXA Investment Managers (Axa IM) which Axa Asset Management became a part of. Donald Brydon was selected to be its

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. In 1996, Dominique Senequier joined Axa and founded the Axa

Private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

platform. It operated under Axa IM until 2013 where it was spun off as a separate firm and renamed Ardian. During 1999, Axa IM paid US$125 million for a controlling stake in the Rosenberg Group, an active quantitative global equity manager based in California. It was renamed to "Rosenberg Equities" which now operates as the quantitative investment platform under Axa IM. In the same year, AXA Real Estate Investment Managers was also established. It was eventually renamed to the "Real Assets" platform. In 2002, Axa IM set up its Structure Finance division. In 2005, Axa IM purchased the investment firm, Framlington Group from HSBC Holdings and Comerica for US$342.5 million. It was renamed to "Framlington Equities" which now operates as a long term equity

active management Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * "Active" (song), a 2024 song by Asake and Travis Scott from Asake's album ''Lungu Boy'' * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several com ...

platform under Axa IM. In 2006, Axa IM established a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. The resulting joint venture was AXA SPDB Investment Managers Co., Ltd, which is based in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In 2008, Axa IM set up a joint venture with Kyobo Life Insurance Company. The resulting joint venture was Kyobo AXA Investment Managers, which is based in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. In 2012, Axa IM established two joint ventures with Bank of India. They were BOI AXA Investment Managers Private Limited and BOI AXA Trustee Services Private Limited, which are based in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. During 2016, Axa IM set up Chorus, a

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

platform. In the same year, the Real Assets division acquired

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

-based, Eureka Funds Management to expand its real assets' operation in the Asia-Pacific region. Axa Investment registered as a crypto service provider in France in March 2023, avoiding disruption to their services. ''Bloomberg'' reported in August 2023 that Axa Investment Managers would be laying off around 90 positions out of its 2,600 employees it had as of the end of 2022. In April 2024, Axa IM acquired W Capital Partners, a private equity firm specializing on GP-led and secondary investments. In July 2024, it was reported that there were talks to merge Axa IM and BNP Paribas Asset Management into a

between Axa and BNP Paribas which would have €1.4 trillion ($1.5 trillion) in

assets under management In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

. In December 2024, a deal was signed for $5.32 billion where Axa IM would become part of BNP Paribas.

Business overview

Axa IM has seven different investment platforms. They are: * Framlington Equities ( Active investment management) * Rosenberg Equities ( Quantitative investment management) * Fixed Income * Real Assets ( Real Estate and Infrastructure investments) * Multi-Asset *

Structured finance Structured finance is a sector of finance — specifically financial law — that manages Leverage (finance), leverage and Financial risk, risk. Strategies may involve legal and corporate restructuring, off balance sheet accounting, or the use of ...

* Chorus (

Hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

) At the end of March 2020, of Axa IM's AUM, around 40% was in Fixed Income, 29% Multi-Asset, 8% in Structured Finance, 12% in Real Assets and 7% in Equities. During 2020, Axa IM restructured its organization to create two main business units, Axa IM Alts and Axa IM Core. Axa IM Alts consists of the Real Assets, Structured Finance and Chorus investment platforms. At the end of 2020, it had €159 billion assets under management. Axa IM Core consists of the Framlington Equities, Rosenberg Equities, Fixed Income and Multi-Asset investment platforms. At the end of 2020, it had €559 billion assets under management. Axa IM has offices in 22 different country which cover

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

References

External links

* {{Major asset management companies Axa Investment management companies of France Financial services companies established in 1997 French companies established in 1997 Announced mergers and acquisitions Asset management companies