Axa Investment Managers: Who Are They?

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is a global investment management firm and the investment arm of AXA, a global insurance and reinsurance company. With a responsible investment philosophy, AXA IM actively invests for the long term to help its clients, its people, and the world to prosper and secure a sustainable future for the planet. The company has a strong commitment to sustainability and net-zero goals, with a focus on using investor capital to address critical environmental and societal challenges. With a global presence in 22 countries across Europe, Asia, and North America, AXA IM offers a range of investment capabilities in fixed income, equities, multi-asset, and institutional solutions.

AXA IM's investment capabilities in fixed income, equities, multi-asset and institutional solutions

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is a global investment management firm that offers diversified, forward-looking investment opportunities with the aim of delivering long-term sustainable returns. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, AXA IM provides investment capabilities in fixed income, equities, multi-asset, and institutional solutions.

Fixed Income

AXA IM offers a broad spectrum of fixed-income strategies to help investors build diverse portfolios resilient to economic shifts. Their actively managed strategies aim to preserve capital, generate regular income, and offset market fluctuations. With a global team of experts, AXA IM navigates the complex fixed-income market using macroeconomic insights, company credit analysis, and ESG factors. They offer strategies spanning developed and emerging markets, government and corporate debt, and investment-grade and high-yield markets.

Equities

AXA IM provides investment opportunities in equities, allowing investors to access a range of asset classes with different performance and risk drivers. Their active, unconstrained approach uses dynamic asset allocation and effective diversification to capture different performance drivers while managing associated risks.

Multi-Asset

AXA IM's multi-asset capabilities include alternative investments, private markets, and hedge funds. They offer tailor-made solutions to meet specific client needs, including unit-linked and wealth offers. AXA IM also provides educational content on investment basics, helping investors make informed decisions.

Institutional Solutions

AXA IM works closely with institutional investors to develop customised solutions. Their Liability-Driven Investment (LDI) and Cashflow Driven Investment (CDI) mandates help institutions manage their assets, liabilities, and cash flow requirements. AXA IM's solutions team provides strategic advice, portfolio management expertise, and cost-effective implementation to support institutional clients in meeting their financial objectives.

AXA IM's investment capabilities in alternative investments

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is a global investment management firm and the investment arm of AXA, a global insurance and reinsurance company. In 2020, AXA IM restructured its organisation to create two main business units: AXA IM Alts and AXA IM Core.

AXA IM Alts is an alternatives-focused asset management unit with €137 billion ($155.1 billion) of assets under management (AUM) in real estate, infrastructure, private debt, structured finance, and hedge funds. It is led by Isabelle Scemama, CEO of AXA Investment Managers, Real Assets, and employs over 700 people in 15 offices serving more than 300 clients from Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East.

AXA IM Alts was created in response to investors' increasing need to seek out higher returns in a low-rate environment. It brings together AXA IM’s €87 billion assets under management (“AUM”) Real Assets business, its €48 billion Structured Finance platform, and its Chorus (hedge fund) business.

AXA IM's Real Assets division offers a broad range of real assets investment solutions that meet the investment objectives of its clients. This includes direct property and infrastructure, as well as private and listed debt. The division aims to improve the sustainability performance of its managed assets to meet increasing investor and tenant demand.

AXA IM's Structured Finance division has €48 billion in assets under management in global assets across the non-traditional credit spectrum. It provides bespoke solutions and investments in alternative credit and structured finance for large investors typically looking for stable and predictable returns.

AXA IM's Chorus strategy takes a quantitative approach to gain exposure to a diversified set of premia strategies, which are sources of performance that can be harvested systematically. It seeks to offer investors consistent risk-adjusted returns that are uncorrelated to traditional asset classes.

AXA IM's commitment to responsible and impact investing

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is a global asset manager with assets under management (AUM) of €759 billion. AXA IM believes that responsible and impact investing can deliver sustainable, long-term value for clients and create a positive impact on society. This belief has guided their work in developing investment solutions that incorporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and impact considerations across all asset classes.

In 2013, AXA IM launched the AXA Impact Investing Programme, which targets market-rate financial returns alongside intentional and measurable impact returns. The programme focuses on meeting the needs of underserved populations in priority areas such as financial inclusion, access to healthcare, and education. It also provides capital to impact solutions that protect the planet and improve resilience to climate change.

AXA IM actively invests for the long term to help their clients, their people, and the world to prosper. They recognise that the global economy is moving towards a more sustainable and equitable model, and they are committed to playing an active role in powering that transition. This commitment is reflected in their sustainability journey, as outlined in their Sustainability Report, and their progress towards net-zero goals.

AXA IM's responsible and impact investing approach is aligned with their core values of courage, integrity, "One AXA," and "Customer First," which unite everyone across the company. As a responsible asset manager, AXA IM strives to secure a sustainable future for the planet while delivering long-term value for their clients.

AXA IM's sustainability commitments and progress towards net zero

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is committed to embedding sustainability into its business practices and culture. The company's purpose is to 'act for human progress by investing for what matters'. AXA IM's responsible allocation and oversight of capital is a key pillar of its corporate purpose.

The company's top-level policies cover controversial weapons, soft commodities, climate risks, tobacco, and ecosystem protection and deforestation. These policies apply to the vast majority of assets. AXA IM was among the first asset managers to implement a blanket exclusion for companies active in the coal sector, which has since been extended to unconventional oil and gas. The company has also decided to exclude assets linked to food commodities, deforestation and other unsustainable practices causing natural ecosystem conversion, and exclusion rules on the main controversial weapons such as anti-personnel landmines.

AXA IM also manages Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Responsible Investment funds, applying additional exclusions policies, such as violations of international norms and standards regarding human rights, society, labour and the environment, or companies with severe ESG controversies.

To support the Paris Agreement goals and the transition to a low-carbon economy, AXA IM aims to progressively reduce its exposure to carbon-intensive sectors by excluding companies most exposed to coal and unconventional oil and gas activities, and by engaging with a selection of companies not excluded by its criteria.

The company's Climate Progress Report provides a comprehensive overview of its progress and actions against its climate commitments and net-zero goals. As of November 2023, 41% of AXA IM's eligible assets were in line with the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative 2050 objective.

AXA IM is on track to reach its interim targets towards net zero by 2050. The company has committed to transitioning its investment portfolio to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, consistent with a maximum temperature rise of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100. In 2019, AXA IM committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its general account investments by 20% between 2019 and 2025. This objective was exceeded, with a reduced carbon footprint of 35% at the end of 2022. Following this, in June 2023, the AXA Group established a new intermediate target to reduce the carbon footprint of its General Account assets by 50% by 2030 (using the baseline year of 2019).

AXA IM's commitment to sustainability and net-zero goals is evident through its policies, strategies, and progress towards reducing carbon emissions. The company actively invests for the long term to help its clients, the communities of the world, and the planet to prosper.

AXA IM's seven different investment platforms

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is a global investment management firm and the investment arm of AXA, a global insurance and reinsurance company. AXA IM has seven different investment platforms, which are:

Framlington Equities

Framlington Equities is an active investment management platform. It was established in 2005 when AXA IM purchased the investment firm, Framlington Group, from HSBC Holdings and Comerica for $342.5 million.

Rosenberg Equities

Rosenberg Equities is a quantitative investment management platform. In 1999, AXA IM paid $125 million for a controlling stake in the Rosenberg Group, an active quantitative global equity manager based in California.

Real Assets

The Real Assets platform focuses on real estate and infrastructure investments. It was established in 1999 as AXA Real Estate Investment Managers and was renamed to Real Assets in 2016 when the division acquired Sydney-based Eureka Funds Management to expand its real assets' operation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chorus

Chorus is a hedge fund platform established in 2016.

Structured Finance

The Structured Finance division was set up in 2002.

AXA IM Alts

AXA IM Alts is a business unit created during AXA IM's 2020 restructuring. It consists of the Real Assets, Structured Finance, and Chorus investment platforms. At the end of 2020, it had €159 billion in assets under management.

AXA IM Core

AXA IM Core is the other business unit created during the 2020 restructuring. It consists of the Framlington Equities, Rosenberg Equities, Fixed Income, and Multi-Asset investment platforms. At the end of 2020, it had €559 billion in assets under management.

AXA IM offers investment capabilities in fixed income, equities, multi-asset, and institutional solutions. The company also provides alternative investments and private markets and hedge funds solutions.

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