BNP Paribas REIM is aiming to expand its pan-European fund business as well as its separate mandates, joint ventures and club deals under its new global head Barbara Knoflach.
‘What I see is a very nice starting place for a new European player with substantial weight,’ Knoflach told PropertyEU in an interview.
At present the investment management business is fairly equally divided between comingled funds, segregated mandates and club deals, Knoflach said. ‘About 20% of the business focuses on private investors and the other 80% on institutional clients. We see potential to develop individual strategies and a broader European perspective for French (but also other European) clients.’
In Germany the Paris-based firm already has a strong platform thanks to its Spezialfonds model, a special vehicle for institutional investors, Knoflach said. ‘We want to be the asset manager of choice for more European investors and would like to bring a more (distinctive) European flavour in terms of offering for the international investment community.’
In the coming years, Knoflach aims to transform BNP Paribas REIM from a country-focused investment manager to a player with a pan-European offering. ‘We are very good at producing local products for local clients but the aim for the coming year will be to broaden our offering so that we are also looking more intensively at European products.’
At present, the French banking group accounts for about a third of BNP Paribas REIM’s clients but Knoflach is keen to expand beyond this captive client base and attract more third-party capital. ‘We aim to expand into other distribution channels. In that sense, the bank is always helpful in opening doors.’
That also means tapping into the requirements of high net worth individuals, she conceded. ‘We want to do more and expand our existing relationship with the BNP Paribas banking network. There is enormous potential to expand our real estate services and we are working on creating a much better and larger platform.
‘We already have country focused funds but we also aim to offer pan-European funds and specialised funds (for institutional investors ed). We also want to do bigger deals in the joint venture business. So far we have only done pan-European club deals with French and Italian investors but this is a good starting point.’
