Amundi Adds To UK ETF Range

Wendy Spires

27 July 2012

Amundi ETF, the fund manager that is majority-owned by Crédit Agricole, has added two new ETFs to its UK range, bringing it to 43 vehicles in total.

The new ETFs are the Amundi ETF MSCI World Financials and Amundi ETFMSCI World Energy funds, both of which carry a total expense ration of 0.35 per cent. The average TER for the funds' peers is 0.45 per cent, Amundi points out.

“These two MSCI Global Sector funds enable UK investors to extend their sector exposure beyond Europe and so include exposure to major economies in both developed and emerging markets,” said Tim Miller, senior relationship manager for Amundi ETF in the UK and Ireland.

Amundi has in fact been visibly expanding its reach for a while now, adding to its ETF ranges on various European stock exchanges.

In another expansionary move, at the end of May Amundi announced that it is to acquire a 17.5 per cent minority equity stake in France’s TOBAM, as part of a strategic partnership.

The partnership also includes a distribution agreement under which Amundi will make TOBAM’s anti-benchmark strategies available to its clients - this will improve TOBAM's product accessibility on a global level, particularly in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, TOBAM president, Yves Choueifaty, said at the time.

“By proposing TOBAM’s anti-benchmark strategy, Amundi - which currently manages €92 billion (about $117 billion) in equities - is strengthening its range of ‘next generation’ investment solutions,” added Yves Perrier, Amundi managing director.

Amundi’s equity stake comes from both TOBAM employees and CalPERS, the US pension fund for Californian public sector workers.

Following the transaction, TOBAM’s capital will be held by Amundi and CalPERS, with the majority remaining in the hands of Choueifaty and employees.