GLOBAL - Allianz Global Investors (AGI), the asset management subsidiary of German insurer Allianz, saw its assets under management (AuM) drop to €970bn in 2007.

Assets have fallen by €1bn, as its AuM at the end of 2006 stood at €971bn, and the firm's chief executive Joachim Faber commented the economic and investment climate in 2007 was "tough for all participants in the markets".

Third-party assets under management (AuM) on the other hand, rose by €2m in 2007 as Marna Whittington, AGI's chief operation officer, announced in the firm's 2007 results third-party AuM increased from €723m in 2006 to €725 at the end of last year.

Despite netflows of €11m, an €52m was lost as a result of market turbulence, and AGI lost a total of €61m which it attributed to "deconsolidation" and currency impact.

"AGI delivered excellent investment performance in 2007 with 86% of third-party AuM over a three-year period outperforming their relative benchmarks. Of this, 87% of third-party fixed income AuM and 79% of third-party equity AuM were ahead of benchmarks," claimed the company in a statement on Friday.

Between 2006 to 2007, AGI's operating profit increased from €1.28bn to €1.32bn and Pimco, the London-based bond fund subsidiary of AGI, "remains the largest bond fund with $112bn in AuM", according to the firm.

A spokeswoman for AGI told IPE today Pimco "anticipated" the subprime crisis, and was very careful not to invest in anything related to subprime, so the company therefore emerged relatively unscathed, she said.

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