It also found a niche in socially responsible investing and corporate activism, under the stewardship of farthinking Belgian chief executive Alain Grisay, who joined around the time of the sale to Dutch insurer Eureko in 2001.
But it was not until it merged with Isis Asset Management – the internal insurance company of UK insurer Friends Provident – that F&C managed to achieve serious scale, running £118bn ( �� 152bn) at the time of its listing in 2004.
It was tough to maintain all these assets when bulk mandate-holders decided to review their arrangements, and the termination of £25bn in asset mandates for Resolution Life came as a blow when Resolution merged with Britannic, and gained its own funds house in 2006.
That was not the last time that Resolution would feature in the eventful history of F&C. Under the direction of its parent group, it proposed to acquire the asset management arm of Resolution in the summer of 2007. This would have added £60bn to F&C’s asset base, but its ultimate owner Friends Provident, was unable to agree terms. It was the termination of these talks which sparked Friends to review its business and make the decision that asset management did not fit.
“Friends Provident’s products are increasingly moving to open architecture, where ownership of a fund manager is less important,” a spokesman for the life company told PWM.
“Friends Provident, however, will continue to co-operate with F&C in product development and distribution.”
F&C has however been wise in taking a pro-active role in reviewing possible changes in ownership, including a management buyout.
It wants to make itself more attractive through its detailed distribution plan, which aims to attract higher margin assets, possibly at the cost of losing some lower margin institutional mandates.
“Our objective is not so much replacing the assets lost to Resolution, but rather growing assets in Europe and beyond through wholesale distribution of the best high alpha strategies,” confirmed Cristobal Mendez de Vigo, F&C’s head of distribution. “This business proposition makes a lot of sense in terms of diversification of revenues.”
