The record net new inflow figure rising from €41.6bn to €56.4bn was a key contributor to the overall rise in assets under management (AUM), which grew by 7% from €669bn at the end of 2015 to €717bn to 31 December 2016.
Andrea Rossi, chief executive at Axa IM, said: “Despite a challenging environment, we maintained our investment for growth in 2016, with a highly selective approach focused on the globalisation of our footprint and the evolution of the products and services we offer to clients in order to meet their long-term needs.
“We are actively exploring new opportunities for 2017 and believe that our continued growth will be fuelled by both in-house innovation and further selective acquisitions.”
Rossi described significant European mandate wins including picking up a €10bn mandate from ING and net new money inflows into Switzerland, Italy, Spain and France.
He said further acquisitions were core to the group’s strategy, having bought Australian real estate house Eureka Funds Management and establishing a real assets private equity team designed to look at infrastructure and opportunities last year, as well as setting up Axa IM Chorus, a Hong Kong-based team focused on liquid absolute return strategies.
In 2016 the group also released several launches, including those investing in fixed-term, high yield bonds, short duration inflation-linked bonds, loans, infrastructure debt, core European real estate and SmartBeta Equity ESG.
Rossi said: “2016 was a year characterised by uncertainty, driven in large part by political events.
“This uncertainty translated into market volatility which has a direct impact on both our clients and our business.
“Given this backdrop I am very pleased that our annual results demonstrate continued strong growth, which reflects not only the resilience of our business model, but also, most importantly, our focus on helping clients meet their long-term objectives regardless of the market environment.”
