8
Robeco special
WHAT'S NewS Issue 12 December 1996
orientation, and even though Robeco has
made significant inroads into the French,
Swiss and Luxembourg private investor
markets, the Group's business has always
been run from a Dutch perspective. Yet,
while Groupe Robeco France's Gilbert
Flardy agrees that the Dutch image is
important, most of the products his team
offers - primarily through direct marketing
- have been designed with the specific
needs of this domestic market in mind.
While the focus here is on Robeco's
autonomy, both RI and the asset
manager are looking for synergies
and forms of cooperation between the
two organizations. Stefan Richter,
manager of Luxembourg, is already
in far-adeanced negotiations to move
in with Rabobank Luxembourg when
thieir new premises are completed.
The two houses will also be looking
at warys to combine activities,
specifically in the back office.
MARKET SHARE
'At the present time,' says Hardy, 'we
derive only 20 percent of our income
from Robeco funds. The remaining 80
percent is generated by purely French
products developed for the French
market, including life insurance and
pension plans. Robeco funds have been
listed on the Paris stock exchange for
many years so we are well known in
France. Our income split is around 50/50
private and institutional investors
representing around FF 10 billion in
assets under management.' Life insurance
is a relatively new offering for the French
operation, but in the three years since this
ROBECO IN BRIEF
The Rotterdam-based fund manager that markets itself as 'the largest independent investment
house in Europe'owes it start to the worst financial disaster in recorded history.The idea of
Robeco was conceived in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash in 1929. Five extremely wealthy
Rotterdam families, most of whom had made their fortunes through the port, got together in
1933.They put part of their net wealth into the new fund and appointed an independent asset
manager to look after it, because, they reasoned, working on the advice of banks had cost them
dear. The investment manger did so well for the Robeco group that four years later, the fund was
opened to other investors and soon became a public fund. Robeco remained a single public
fund for 30-plus years. It was then that funds, such as Rolenco, were added. As Robeco grew, a
holding company structure was perceived as the right form of management for its increasing
number of funds.This led to the creation of Robecam. Essentially, Robeco was structured along
cooperative lines. However,that would change in the 1980s as the asset manager increasingly
saw a need for growth. If a solid return on investment but little more had characterized the funds
previously, since the arrival of new president and CEO Pieter Korteweg in 1986, the group turned
its attention to seriously growing its business - both domestic and international. Robeco under
Korteweg went through staggering growth in the late 1980s, but from 1990 increasing
competition has made it ever-tougher for the independent asset house to pursue its ambitions.
Clearly, this is where Rabobank comes into the equation. A heavy-duty,Triple-A rated parent will
bring in the capitalization Robeco needs to further develop its international expansion.
product was launched, Groupe Robeco
has seen its market share grow strongly.
'That is correct,' Flardy confirms. 'We are
looking at around FF1.2 billion since the
launch, with 50 percent of that figure
achieved this year. Many of our life clients
are also personal asset clients. They are
used to our direct marketing techniques
and, of course, we have put a very good
product in the market.'
BANKING AT A DISTANCE
Across the border in Switzerland - and in
Luxembourg, which is a subsidiary of the
Geneva-based Robeco Bank - general
manager Winfried Kilp and his team are
also putting basic Robeco concepts to
INVESTMENT BREAKDOWN
(IN NLG, 5/96)
equity funds 19.2 billion
bond funds 17.4 billion
money-market products 14.3 billion
mixed funds 1.1 billion
property funds 12.6 billion
institutional funds 3 billion
;.j—s
total managed for institutional market
24 billion
total under management group
75 billion
work. 'We have based our service to
private clients across Europe and elsewhere
in the world on the shareholder account
system which I'm sure Willem van 8
Someren Gréve has explained. That is our
primary activity both in Switzerland and in
Luxembourg. One of our strengths is that
we can offer sound investment and
portfolio advice to clients, who tend to be
ex-patriates, through IRIS (see page 9) and
our advisory service. The cliënt decides
how he or she wants assets allocated or we
are assigned an asset management
mandate. We also offer a focused range of
products - the cliënt is not continually
bombarded with a new product or a new
bond every day. They can choose from a
comparatively basic type of product
HIGH TECH MARKETING
De marketing technieken die Robeco gebruikt om haar producten aan de man te brengen zijn zeer succesvol gebleken. Robeco
benut direct marketing en moderne verkooptechnieken om de klanten te bereiken. Als eerste introduceerde men
aandeelhoudersrekeningen, die de klant de mogelijk bieden een bepaald bedrag te beleggen in plaats dat zij verplicht worden een aantal volledig^^
aandelen te kopen. Hierdoor staat er nooit geld renteloos op de rekening. Robeco blijft alert ten aanzien van innovaties. De mogelijkheden die
Internet biedt zijn al opgemerkt.