The Dexia Index Arbitrage Fund will now be labelled as the Candriam Index Arbitrage Fund. This UCITS IV fund has more than €1.4bn (£1.17bn) in assets under management, the company said. The fund aims to take advantage of inefficiencies generated by re-adjustments on key equity indices.
The Dexia Long Short Credit Fund has been rebranded as the Candriam Long Short Credit Fund. Launched in October 2009, Candriam Long Short Credit is an absolute return UCITS IV fund. It uses arbitrage strategies and directional strategies – both long and short – on corporate bonds and credit derivatives. Currently the fund’s AUM is €800m.
"Alternative investment strategies remain a priority for Candriam in 2014," Fabrice Cuchet, head of alternative investment strategies, said.
He added that the asset manager had seen "renewed investor interest" recently, particularly for the company's long-short credit and index arbitrage strategies, and said the company has new strategies and funds in its pipeline.
In other changes at Candriam, those of the company's mutual funds domiciled in France will now be called Candriam, as will Belgian-law funds based on traditional strategies. Open-ended mutual funds under French law will be renamed at the end of April 2014.
The re-branding of the company's Luxembourg-law funds will take place later in the year.
The company now known as Candriam Investors Group was Dexia Asset Management until earlier this year. It was rebranded as Candriam in February, after being acquired by New York Life Investment Management, a subsidiary of New York Life Insurance, the largest mutual insurer in the US. Most of the funds that have not yet been renamed are expected to be by summer, Candriam said.
Dexia Asset Management had been a part of the Dexia Group, a Franco-Belgian financial services company that was hit by the global financial crisis in 2008 and susbsequently restructured, with parts of the business sold off.
