UniCredit signs asset management accord with Azimut

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The UniCredit bank logo in the old city centre of Siena, Italy, June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini/File Photo

By Valentina Za

MILAN (Reuters) - UniCredit has struck an accord with asset manager Azimut Holding in a move that will see the Italian bank bring back in-house a fee-yielding business 10 years after parting ways with its Pioneer asset management arm.

Under the accord, whose financial terms were not disclosed, Azimut will set up in Ireland an asset manager of which UniCredit can acquire control in five years at the latest.

In an effort to rebuild UniCredit's depleted capital reserves, then UniCredit CEO Jean Pierre Mustier in 2017 sold Pioneer to Amundi, signing a partnership that expires in 2027.

Sources had told Reuters Mustier's successor, Andrea Orcel, had tried in vain to renegotiate the terms of the accord with the French asset manager and relations between the two partners had soured.

"This accord gives UniCredit the chance to re-internalise a fundamental piece of our asset management business," Orcel told a press conference on Friday.

Asked about the implications of the call option in the Azimut deal for the Amundi partnership, Orcel did not rule out UniCredit could seek other partners after 2027.

Azimut's Irish asset management company will develop products to be distributed through UniCredit's network in Italy on a non-exclusive basis.

Azimut Chairman Pietro Giuliani said two of the company's CEOs had a meeting scheduled on Monday with Irish regulators to discuss the project.

Shares in Azimut rose 5% following the letter of intent, topping Italy's blue-chip index. UniCredit slipped 0.3%.

The launch of the first funds for Italian clients is expected in the second half of 2023. Orcel said the accord would start having visible effects on the bank's earnings only in a few years' time.

Giuliani said Azimut, which currently raises the majority of the assets it manages abroad, would see for a few years a shift back towards Italian clients.

"That's a price we're happy to pay to build an important, international asset manager in Italy," he said, adding Azimut would retain a minority stake in the Irish firm when UniCredit acquires the majority of it.

The call option can be exercised earlier subject to circumstances which the two companies declined to detail.