EUROPE - Natixis Asset Management (NAM), an affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management, has launched Seeyond, a structured product and volatility management investment division.

The new business, which has €14.7bn in assets under management, has been set up to offer both institutional and retail investors “more durable investments” in a “consistently volatile” economic environment.

It has been formed from NAM’s existing structured products and volatility management division, with a greater focus on specialities and enhanced resources within a single division.

According to Emmanuel Bourdeix, co-chief investment officer (CIO) at NAM and head of Seeyond’s investment division, the group’s assessment of investment performance over the past decade shows that investors have not been remunerated in proportion to the risk they take.

“By launching Seeyond, we are taking a fresh view by implementing different strategies with an active approach in which investment decisions are both objectively assessed by models and risk-weighted,” Bourdeix said.

Seeyond’s investment philosophy is that, in consistently volatile markets, where trends have been obscured, it is more efficient to exploit market volatility to generate value rather than invest according to return forecasts that are sometimes inaccurate and often unstable.

Its investment management teams use market variability and dispersion to generate performance and employ risk management to construct portfolios tailored to this more complex environment.

Strategies that Seeyond is using to combine performance generation with risk reduction include structured management, flexible asset allocation, active volatility management, model-driven equity management and long/short equity.

A complete range of funds is being offered in four areas of expertise: capital protected funds, model-driven and optimised equity management, multi-asset absolute return and active volatility management, equity arbitrage.

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