- UK fund major wants to grow regional assets to $500 billion
- It targets international assets growing to half of total managed assets by 2028
- Want to boost sales via wealth channels, CEO Antonio Simoes says
- Asian wealthy clients want global diversification, CEO says
HONG KONG, April 15 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest asset manager Legal & General aims to double its assets under management in Asia to around $500 billion amid its push to grow its international business, CEO Antonio Simoes told Reuters on Monday.
Asia is the group's fastest growing international market and is set to play a pivotal role in its target of growing its international AUM to more than 50% of its portfolio by 2028, up from about 43% last year, according to Simoes.
The fund and insurance major currently sources $244 billion worth of assets from Asian clients out of its global AUM of $1.6 trillion.
"We're very bullish on Asia right now," he said, where the group has more than 50 staff across the region.
L&G's shares have lagged domestic rivals like Aviva over Simoes' tenure as he has sought to convince investors of the merits of his strategy. Simoes, who was appointed CEO in 2024, has pledged to improve performance and boost investor returns by simplifying the 190-year-old British group.
Geopolitical tensions and market swings amid the Iran conflict are reinforcing demand from Asian clients for global diversification across asset classes and geographies, according to Simoes.
"What the markets are pricing right now is a de-escalation of the conflict," he said.
WEALTH THE NEXT FRONTIER
The wealth market is now "the next frontier" for the firm in Asia, Simoes said, after first building its presence with sovereign funds, pension funds and other institutional clients.
L&G plans to form more distribution ties to reach Asia's wealthy investors, he told Reuters in Hong Kong, where one of its five offices in the region is located. The others are located in Singapore, mainland China, Tokyo and Australia.
The push into Asian wealth is already gaining traction, he said, with a partnership with J.P. Morgan Private Bank raising more than $1 billion from Asian clients in a year.
Its global unconstrained bond strategy — a flexible bond fund that can move across markets more freely than a traditional strategy — distributed via Singapore's United Overseas Bank, has also grown to more than $1 billion.
Private market strategies are also in the pipeline for Asia, according to Simoes, after the firm acquired a 75% stake in private market specialist Proprium Capital Partners.
Growth would not come at the expense of margins, Simoes said, with the firm targeting an average revenue margin of more than 10 basis points by 2028 and ideally earlier, up from 9 basis points currently.
Reporting by Selena Li in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Iain Withers in London; Editing by Janane Venkatraman
Source: Reuters