We call Citywire Amplify ‘asset management uncovered,’ so it’s time to lift the covers off an asset manager. Having looked at Pictet’s dominance of the water sector recently, we wanted to explore the thematics leader more deeply.

Amplify looked at the group’s complete offering: where they are performing well? Where they are gaining or losing market share? And which assets are at risk? With this, we have built a picture of the health of the company. Keep an eye out as we turn an eye to more of the largest groups around the world.

The quick take

Pictet has enjoyed a very good run. In recent years, the Geneva-based group has taken market share in the bulk of sectors it is active in and turned in a good performance over the past three years across its key funds.

Being the granddaddy of thematic investing at a time when this style is in vogue has been great for business. The rewards of expertise and lengthy track records in thematics have been clear. More than a quarter of its funds (28%) have laid claim to 5% or more of their sector AUM – already a dominant position – while 16% of funds have a whopping 10% market share.

The gains

Just over half of the group’s funds with a three-year track record (31/61) have increased their market share over the past three years. On average, these funds have gained 2.4% of their respective sectors.

Its biggest success story here is in Long/Short Equity – Global, where it has gained 29.4% of the market from its $3bn Pictet TR – Atlas fund. It now has more than a third (35.5%) of the sector AUM.

Pictet has also been making inroads into the nascent Chinese local currency debt market, where it has gained 9.4% of the market through its Pictet-Chinese Local Currency Debt fund. It now has $1.2bn AUM of an $8.2bn sector.

Agriculture and forestry have been two further areas of growth. In the former, the Pictet-Nutrition fund occupies 33% of the sector after gaining 7% of the market in the past three years. In the latter, Pictet-Timber fund has grown by 3% to control 9% of the sector assets.

Pictet’s position in Swiss franc money-market funds has also swelled and it now has close to half (47%) of the sector after an 8.7% growth in its Pictet-Short-Term Money Market CHF fund. However, it should be noted this is a small sector, with just $2.6bn total AUM.

The losses

Overall it is a positive story for the group, but there are a few sectors where it has lost ground to its peers over recent years. It lost the most market share in water equities, with a 10% contraction in the Pictet-Water fund. However, don’t feel too sorry for Pictet, as it still controls close to a third of the market (31.6%) with $8bn under management (albeit $2.2bn less than a year ago). See a deeper dive into water equities here.

Contrasting the gains it made in Equity Long/Short, it lost ground in Equity Market Neutral and, more importantly, in the Multistrategy EUR peer groups, with Pictet TR – Agora and Pictet TR – Diversified Alpha losing 8.3% and 4.1% respectively.

Quick stats

Performance

• 35 of 61 (57%) funds are in the top two quartiles.
• 13 of 61 (21%) funds are in the top quartile.

Market share

• 37 of 61 (61%) funds with a three-year track record have 1% or more market share.
• 17 of 61 (28%) have more than 5% market share.
• 10 of 61 (16%) have more than 10% market share.