15th Jul 2015 07:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - Intermediate Capital Group PLC Wednesday said the business may be hurt by "economic volatility" and uncertainty as Greece tries to stay in the Eurozone.
Weakness in the euro against other major currencies isn't expected to have anything more than a "limited impact" on fund management fee income, which the company said is hedged. Interest income, however, is unhedged, meaning there is a "more immediate impact" from the current exchange rates, Intermediate Capital said.
"Long term market conditions remain favourable for alternative investments; although economic volatility and the current uncertainty in the Eurozone may have some short term impacts on our business. Our fundraising focus turns to first time funds, which always take more time to gain traction, means that we expect the pace of fundraising to slow for the rest of the financial year," Chief Executive Christophe Evain said in a statement.
The group is still aiming for its return on equity to increase to more than 13% by growing profitability of the business and re-gearing its balance sheet.
The asset manager, which structures and provides mezzanine finance, leveraged credit and minority equity, said its Europe Fund VI closed at its EUR3.0 billion maximum size in "record" time, including an additional EUR1.2 billion of third party money raised in the quarter, while its Asia Pacific Fund III had a first close.
The company said the pace of fundraising is to slow in line with expectations, as it turns its focus to raising money for new strategies, which the company says have "longer lead times" than established strategies that boast a strong record.
Total assets under management increased by 12% over the three months to the end of June, reaching EUR20.2 billion, as EUR2.8 billion of new third party money was raised and realisations returned to "normal" levels.
Fee earning assets under management amounted to EUR14.35 billion at the end of June.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
ICP.L