PRINT THIS PAGE

Allianz signals plans for major increase in private equity investing

German insurance giant Allianz plans to increase significantly its private equity investment activity, both direct and into funds, at the expense of public equity investment, according to the group's chief investment officer Paul Achleitner.

He told journalists that 'the buy and hold strategy for quoted equities worked well for decades but it no longer works well in a modern regulatory environment…Private equity will definitely increase in importance.'

Allianz currently has about one per cent of its assets invested in private equity though direct and fund investments with a total value of around E3.5bn. Achleitner declined to give an explicit target for increased investment.

It also emerged that the group's fund investment arm, Allianz Private Equity Partners, had for the first time agreed to manage a mandate for a third party and would seek to increase its third party activity further over time.

The unit, managed by Wanching Ang, currently manages about E2bn of fund investments. It aims to invest between E300m and E400m each year. Direct investments are managed through Allianz Capital Partners, which has over E1bn under management.

Allianz's plans are mainly a response to regulatory changes, which have altered the accounting treatment of listed equity investments.

Copyright © 2004 AltAssets