In a statement sent to advisers yesterday, Allianz GI said it has decided to rename the range in order “to further strengthen the Allianz Global Investors’ brand and to render our fund offering more transparent”. The company said the RCM brand, while being removed from the fund range, will however continue to be used in the institutional market.
The changes follow a restructure announced by the company in September last year which saw Allianz’s asset management division split into two separate parts – Allianz Global Investors and PIMCO. This change became effective at the beginning of January this year.
From 30 March, Allianz will remove the RCM name from 20 of its offshore funds, as well as from a further 23 domiciled in its native Germany, then, from 30 April, the RCM name will be removed from the firm’s UK OEIC funds.
The final part of the rebrand will take place on the 30 June when the RCM brand will be removed from a further 41 offshore funds.
Allianz GI has said there will be no change to the investment strategies or objectives of any of the funds.
RCM was originally founded as Rosenberg Capital Management by Claude Rosenberg in San Francisco in 1970. In 1996 it became a fully owned subsidiary of Dresdner Bank AG which in turn was acquired by Allianz SE in July 2001, at which point RCM became an independent member of Allianz GI.
