Amundi’s former head of real assets has led a takeover of L’Etoile Properties, one of Amundi’s key investing partners.
Pedro-Antonio Arias officially left Amundi last September after a period of garden leave and is now CEO of rival Sienna Investment Managers which has acquired L’Etoile.
Sienna IM is the alternative assets business of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert.
L’Etoile was an adviser on dozens of Amundi real estate transactions, including the €850 mln Majunga Tower in 2019 in La Defense in Paris. The company has €7 bn in assets under management, and will triple Sienna IM’s AUM to €10 bn and more than quadruple its staff.
Sienna IM is buying L’Etoile from its founders who set up the firm in 1990 and are led by CEO Didier Unglik.
Up until this deal, seven-year-old Sienna invested only on behalf of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. Simultaneously with this acquisition, Sienna is launching a third-party capital management company with AIFM approval from the Luxembourg regulator. It is believed that Arias’s former Amundi colleague Eric Wohleber, who specialises in capital raising, has also joined Sienna after quitting Amundi last year.
Groupe Bruxelles Lambert used to be best known as a bank but sold its banking interests to ING. It is now a listed investments holding company.
L’Etoile has managed capital from international institutional investors for more than 30 years, focusing on the investment and management of real estate assets including offices, hotels, and logistics centres. The business has 85 employees across offices in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Paris, Madrid, London and South Korea.
Didier Unglik said: ‘My partners and I are happy to join Sienna Investment Managers. This partnership brings an opportunity to accelerate our development in investment products, geographic locations and skills, while keeping our identity. We are confident that with the support of Pedro, the Sienna team and GBL that we will be able to continue our ambitious investment plans and raise and successfully invest further capital for our future funds.’
Arias commented: 'Alternative asset management has experienced consistent and sustained growth for many years. Only global alternative platforms, active in private markets and real assets, will be able to cope with the consolidation to come. Thanks to the quality of our shareholder GBL and the acquisition of highly-experienced and successful investment managers like L’Etoile, we are well-positioned to capitalise on the consolidation opportunity and play a vital role as an integrator in this sector.'
