The consolidation of asset managers is heating up, Credit Suisse's Michel Degen tells finews.com. He spills on the Swiss bank's dealmaking views and cryptocurrency investment plans.
Credit Suisse real estate funds just bought the offices they use in the Sihlcity development in Zurich. A bargain?
In October, we exchanged two properties for the investors of Credit Suisse’s real estate funds with property firm SPS. We’re now tenants in a property that belong to two real estate funds of Credit Suisse’s asset management division. Naturally, we pay market prices.
Nevertheless, the funds are down this year...
We manage 46 billion Swiss francs ($46.3 million) in real estate. Premiums which had built up in previous years due to strong demand have this year receded compared to the intrinsic value. That’s why we’re judicious with real estate investments.
Credit Suisse effectively invented real estate funds in Switzerland years ago. What are the newest fund innovations?
In equities, themes are in focus. Our products like robotics, digital, health, and security are very successful. In the first nine months alone, we won 3 billion francs from clients for these strategies. Next year we plan to launch another product investing in digital education and entertainment.
«Clear focus in an absolute necessity due to our size»
A tenet of our strategy is to focus on what differentiates us and where we can add value for clients. Clearly focusing is absolute necessity for a mid-sized player with roughly 404 billion francs in assets.
You're spending considerable money on this focusing as well: Credit Suisse asset management is sponsoring a professorship at Zurich's technical university ETH. What do you hope from it?
We're establishing a professorship at the ETH in Zurich as part of a new partnership in the flourishing field of robotics and intelligent systems. We believe there are excellent opportunities for investors in this area, and we can secure a key transfer of knowledge between investors and science.
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