GERMANY – Deutsche Asset Management, the institutional fund arm of Deutsche Bank, suffered €12bn in investor outflows during the first half of 2005.

Announcing its first-half results, Deutsche said that while most of the outflows occurred in the UK, some also occurred in the Americas and Asia. It added that the some of the Asian ouflows were linked to the loss of mandates managed in the UK.

Deutsche said that in Asia it would re-focus its product strategy “toward higher-value, alternative products” amid strong trends in that market.

Earlier this month, Deutsche sold its UK asset management business to Aberdeen Asset Management for up to £265m (€384.8m). The business had suffered the loss of tens of billions of euros in mandates and an exodus of senior executives.

Commenting on the sale, Kevin Parker, global head of asset management at Deutsche, said it would help “make DeAM a more powerful and focussed business and provide our clients and shareholders with added value.”

Deutsche also said the haemorrhaging at DeAM was partially compensated for by €2bn in inflows in continental Europe.

A spokesman for the bank told IPE that following the sale of the UK business, Deutsche “was hopeful” that for the full year, its asset management division would have net inflows.

All told, Deutsche had €598bn under management at the end of June, up from €573bn at the end of March. Of the total, €316bn was managed by institutional funds and €227bn by retail funds.

Real estate funds and absolute return strategies – which aim to deliver a return irrespective of market movements – accounted for €48bn and €7bn of the total, respectively.

Deutsche also said pre-tax profit for its asset management and private wealth division totalled €124m in the second quarter, down 9% from the same period in 2004.

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