UBS France, La Maison launch new investment boutique
UBS France, the French arm of Swiss financial group UBS, and private investment club La Maison have partnered to launch UBS La Maison de Gestion, resulting from the merger of the French asset management subsidiaries of UBS (UBS Asset Management France SA) and of Banque Leonardo (OCEA Gestion).
The origins of UBS La Maison de Gestion dwell in the full buyout of Banque Leonardo by UBS France, a project which took shape in December 2016 and was approved by French regulator AMF last July.
UBS La Maison de Gestion will provide “family office” services, relying on open architecture in all areas of wealth management; discretionary financial management (mandates, life insurance and Ucits) as well as private equity investments.
The fund range of the newly launched boutique will include a small caps equity fund focusing on France and neighbour countries, an equity fund focusing on family-businesses, a fund of funds as well as an absolute return fund and a long only value strategy. All these funds were initially part of UBS AM or Banque Leonardo’s existing product ranges.
It is understood funds focusing on niche thematics will be added to the boutique’s offering. UBS La Maison de Gestion has decided to domicile its whole open-ended fund range in France.
The new entity is led by Marc Lévy – co-founder and CEO of La Maison – appointed chairman of the management board. Michel Cicurel – co-founder and chairman of La Maison – is chairman of the supervisory board while Jean-Frédéric de Leusse – chairman of UBS France – is vice-chairman.
UBS La Maison de Gestion, located at 4, place Saint Thomas d’Aquin in Paris has 46 employees, of which 18 are part of the private investment management team, eight are Ucits fund managers supported by four assistant portfolio managers.
Jérôme Orbey, deputy general manager of UBS La Maison de Gestion and responsible for the investment management teams, will be in charge of rolling out the investment policies.
Prior to the merger, Orbey was deputy general manager of Banque Leonardo France and former head of Private Investment Management at Edmond de Rothschild France.
UBS La Maison de Gestion will manage over €4.5bn of assets under management at its start and will seek growth “by taking on experienced investment managers while also maintaining the size,
organisational structure and state of mind of a boutique firm, in keeping with the expectations of a high-end client base.”
De Leusse, chairman of the management board of UBS France, commented: “The UBS group is strengthening its position in France by investing and joining forces with La Maison’s family shareholder partners. This commitment to our clients, employees and the country goes hand-in-hand with our rapid and solid expansion. We have doubled in size in five years.”
Lévy, CEO of Banque Leonardo France and of La Maison, said: “Thanks to its shareholding structure, which brings together an institutional banking group and major families to its mixed governance structure and human-sized organisation, UBS La Maison de Gestion is able to combine UBS’s criteria in terms of exacting standards and security, as well as its financial striking power, with the responsiveness and flexibility that make up the DNA of La Maison, in keeping with the wishes of its shareholders and clients.”
La Maison tallies a number of major European and international families such as Serge Dassault, Michel David-Weill, Alain Mérieux, Maurice Lévy, Xavier Niel, Jacques-Antoine Granjon and Roger Zannier.
Emmanuel d’Orsay, head of Private Investment Management at UBS France, commented: “This is a major step forward in the development of UBS in France. We now offer our clients a comprehensive range of investment advisory and financial management services. This new offering fits in with the bespoke support we provide for our clients in the management of both their personal and professional assets.
“By maintaining a size that allows us to offer a personal touch, we can give a face to each area of expertise and maintain a very close relationship with our clients.”
