Strategic partnership of Sycomore Asset Management with Assicurazioni Generali
FR
IT
Sycomore Corporate Finance acted as exclusive financial advisor to Sycomore Asset Management (“SAM, the “Company”) on its strategic partnership with Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. (“Generali”)
Sycomore Asset Management, a key player in sustainable investments in France, enters into a strategic partnership with Generali, one of the largest insurance companies in the world.
Under the terms of the partnership, Generali acquires a majority stake into SAM while enabling SAM’s founders to remain significant shareholders and SAM’s employees to increase their ownership in the Company. In this context, SAM’s founders will continue to run the strategy and operations of the firm independently, with the same entrepreneurial mindset that has driven innovation and performance since its foundation in 2001.
Rationale
A mutually beneficial transaction by :
Headquartered in Paris, SAM is a leading independent asset manager with over €8.3 billion Assets under Management as of July 2018. SAM is an undisputed pioneer in the ESG / SRI segment in France (Europe’s largest market for ESG / SRI investment solutions), and has become over time a true reference player in this area.
Since its foundation, SAM’s mission has been to deliver sustainable performance, notably by identifying companies’ levers for long-term value creation. SAM’s expertise is driven by a field-approach and a proprietary fundamental research methodology including financial and extra-financial criteria.
Since inception, SAM has recorded a significant track-record of growth and profitability with +11% of net revenues CAGR over the period 2008 – 2017 and cost to income ratio below 50% on average over the past 10 years.
Established in 1831, Generali is an independent, Italian insurance group, with a strong international presence. It is among the world’s leading insurers and is present in over 60 countries with total premium income exceeding €68 billion in 2017. With nearly 71,000 employees in the world and 57 million customers, Generali is a major player in Western Europe and has an increasingly significant presence in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Asia.
Over the recent years, Generali’s investment strategy have been focusing on sustainable and responsible investing as a key growth lever. Generali’s “Ethical Filter”, which excludes investment opportunities with issuers following poor ESG practices, has been in place since 2006 and covers nearly €350bn in direct investments. Generali has also developed proprietary SRI screening methodology, which currently underpins the management of over €35bn assets.