Unigestion Acquires Akina

Originally published on 08 February 2017

Unigestion and Akina are pleased to announce today that they have agreed to merge their private equity businesses to create a leading specialist in global small and mid-market private equity, which will have 6 bn USD in assets under management and 54 dedicated professionals located in Geneva, Zurich, London, New York and Singapore. This expansion demonstrates Unigestion’s commitment to building a world-class multi-specialist institutional boutique asset management firm.

The combination brings together two highly complementary private equity platforms with experienced professionals sharing the same investment philosophy in the small and mid-market segment. Akina’s renowned expertise in identifying investment opportunities in European markets through a high conviction top-down / bottom-up investment process complements Unigestion’s global reach and risk management expertise. We firmly believe this will create a uniquely qualified specialist in global small and mid-market private equity which will be an even stronger partner for our investors. 

The two private equity investment teams will easily blend into one strong group, benefiting from each other’s talent, insights and expertise. Christophe de Dardel, Unigestion’s Head of Private Equity and member of the Executive Committee will continue in his current role, leading Unigestion’s enhanced Private Equity team. 

The combined business will trade under the Unigestion name. There will be no change to the investment strategy of existing products of either Unigestion or Akina, but there will be cross-representation on the two private equity investment committees.

Following completion, Unigestion’s total assets under management will increase to more than 23 bn USD, of which private equity will represent 25%, making it the second largest pillar of its investment offering, alongside equities, alternatives and multi asset.

The completion of the transaction is subject to the customary regulatory approvals in the jurisdictions where the group operates.

Bernard Sabrier, Chairman of Unigestion, commented: “This is an important strategic milestone in the development of Unigestion’s private equity business. It demonstrates our commitment to continually adapt our business to provide our investors with the best investment opportunities.

Akina has an exceptionally talented team of specialists with an excellent track record.  By combining the two businesses, we are creating a unique proposition with scale in an area of the market that consistently brings value to investors. The transaction almost doubles our assets under management in private equity, adds investment leadership in the European small and mid-cap segment and extends our institutional client base, in particular in the United States.

We are delighted to welcome the Akina team into Unigestion and we look forward to working together to ensure that all of our clients benefit from this merger.”

Christopher Bödtker, Managing Partner of Akina, commented: “Joining forces with Unigestion is the perfect next step for our business and our clients. With greater scale and deeper resources we will have a really exciting proposition in global small to mid-market private equity, which we are more passionate than ever about developing. We look forward to a bright future together.”