Fortis is creating a new multi-manager funds group called Fortis Multi-Management. The new unit will be launched in the new year with combin...

Fortis is creating a new multi-manager funds group called Fortis Multi-Management. The new unit will be launched in the new year with combined assets of €6 billion ($7.1 billion). The move is designed to combine all the group’s existing multi-manager elements of its business, notably those of the MeesPierson private banking arm and the retail funds business of Fortis Investments. The new unit will include traditional long-only funds of funds, funds of hedge funds and funds of private equity funds. Products will be run by a 32-strong team located mainly in Amsterdam and Geneva. Eric Ebermeyer, chief executive of the new business, said: “We are planning to double our assets under management by 2010, through organic growth. The priority for the first half of next year is to expand in London, the US and Asia. We want to be an international player.” In the UK the group will not initially target the independent financial advisor market but will focus its efforts on small to mid-size institutional clients, particularly with its fund of hedge fund products. Fortis Multi-Management is structured as a 50-50 joint venture between the group’s private bank and Fortis Investments, its funds business.