AXA Investment Managers’ real assets arm has bought Eureka Funds Management in Australia.
The Paris-headquartered investment manager, which has €66bn in assets under management (AUM), said it bought the Sydney-based company as it looks to expand globally.
Eureka has AUD5bn (€3.4bn) of AUM, including office and retail assets and an alternative real estate investment platform that invests in car parks and hotels.
Eureka also manages real estate debt funds. AXA IM-Real Assets said this will allow it to expand its real estate debt platform into Australia.
“As one of the world’s most liquid and transparent property markets, as well as a significant source of capital, we have long targeted Australia as a key region,” said Pierre Vaquier, chief executive of AXA IM-Real Assets.
The acquisition of Eureka, he said, provides an “immediate and significant footprint in this important region”.
He said: “From working in collaboration with Eureka over the past few years, having made our first investment in Australia with them in 2013, it has become increasingly apparent that our businesses are both extremely similar in ethos and highly complementary in terms of what each party brings.”
Eureka, founded in 2004 by Bob Kelly, Kumar Kalyanakumar, Quentin Shaw, Niall McCarthy and Rod Cowdroy, boosts AXA IM-Real Assets with increased access to the Asia Pacific region.
The firm said it will continue to use the Eureka name post-acquisition, operating as Eureka-Real Assets.
Bob Kelly, managing director of Eureka, said: “At this stage of our development, we can clearly see the benefits of becoming part of the AXA IM-Real Assets’ global team, not just in terms of having the wider resources and expertise that will allow us to take our business to the next level, but also the additional scope and quality of client service we can offer.”
AXA IM-Real Assets has business development and client serving offices in Singapore and an office in Seoul, which it opened last year.
The Seoul office was the investment manager’s third in Asia, having opened offices in Singapore in 2008 and Tokyo in 2006.
