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Amundi appoints Shed Ent for a new sales platform
Amundi Asset Management, the largest asset manager in Europe, which has had a long presence in Australia through various guises, has appointed Shed Enterprises, a Sydney-based third-party marketing firm, as its Australian and New Zealand representative.
Paris-based Amundi was founded in 2010 to run the asset management businesses of Credit Agricole and Societe Generale. It was listed in its own right in Paris in 2015 and merged with Pioneer Investments in 2017, with assets under management approaching US$1.2 trillion (now at about US$1.59 trillion).
All four entities have had an Australian presence for a long time, but Amundi parted ways with its senior Australian-based sales head, Brian Scott, last year.
In a prepared statement, Amundi said: “We can confirm that Amundi Asset Management is changing its set-up in Australia. We will be transferring sales and client servicing functions in Australia to officers of a local partner, Shed Enterprises. We remain committed to Asia-Pacific and servicing our clients to the highest standards with the depth of our expertise and best-in-class capabilities, platforms and offerings.”
Notwithstanding a complicated share structure, where a number of regional banks, operating as a co-operative, had controlled Credit Agricole and still tend to vote as a bloc, Amundi has had strong growth since its formation as a pure asset management firm, thanks to a broad range of strategies and products.
Sheridan Lee, founder and principal of Shed Enterprises, said that the challenge for her team was to focus on the capabilities, of many, that her new client offers which will be most sought-after by Australian and New Zealand institutional investors.
“Amundi really is a fabulous organisation with a long history,” she said. “It has so much to offer investors in every type of strategy imaginable. We will be doing our best to put as much as possible on show.”
Shed Enterprises is the longest-established third-party marketing firm in the region, having been established in 1996. It has about a dozen staff in Sydney and a one-person Melbourne office.
– G.B.
