Assets under management (AUM) in real estate and private equity funds in Austria increased in 2022, despite being a year of losses for all other investment strategies.

According to a quarterly report published yesterday by the Financial Market Authority (FMA), AUM for real estate funds grew by 2.4% to €11.3bn year-on-year in 2022, while private equity funds AUM grew by 45.7% to €1.1bn.

Investment funds recorded net outflows of close to €404m in the fourth quarter of last year, resulting from inflows totalling €904m in equity funds minus outflows of €767m in mixed funds, €379m in bond funds, €157m in real estate funds, and €5m in other funds.

The Austrian fund industry managed close to €200.2bn of assets at the end of last year, a 13.2% decrease year-on-year as a result of market losses, according to the report.

Funds registered in Austria according to the Investment Fund Act – Investmentfondsgesetz – and real estate investment funds recorded net outflows of €0.5bn in 2022, it added.

Assets in mixed funds amounted to €93.2bn, a 12% or €12.7bn decline year-on-year in 2022. Assets in bond funds shrunk by 15.6%, or €9.7bn, to €52.7bn.

The amount of assets in equity funds fell by 17.2% or €7.6bn in 2022 to a total of €36.5bn, and by 17.4% or €1.1bn in short-term bond funds to €5bn.

The number of funds with a licence to operate in Austria amounted to 2,070 at the end of last year, split into 873 Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and 1,197 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), including 13 real estate funds.

The share of funds marketed to institutional investors increased by 46 in 2022, to 1,074. Both the number of UCITS and the number of AIFs decreased by eight and one, respectively.

In terms of investment strategy, the number of equity funds operating in Austria increased by two to 345 in the third quarter of last year, of mixed funds by one to 1,142, and of private equity funds by two to 40.

The FMA noted in the quarterly report that sustainability funds are the fastest-growing segment in the market.

Funds managed in line with the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) recorded total AUM of €81.6bn at the end of 2022, up from €53bn at the end of June 2021, making up 40.8% of the total assets in Austrian funds.

The report also showed that 520 funds are managed according to Article 8 of the SFDR and 14 funds according to Article 9.

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Luigi is IPE's Berlin-based DACH correspondent. His coverage includes regulation and the latest pensions and investments trends, and, being a native Italian, he also covers Italy’s pensions market. He has reported from Italy and Germany on international politics and business for European and US publications including USA Today, Bloomberg BNA and for the investigative magazine L’Espresso. He was previously Germany correspondent for Mergermarket covering M&A.View full Profile

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