BNP Paribas has formed a new business unit with over €30bn of assets under management and advisory to better serve its private assets market clients.

Dubbed Private Assets, the new unit is part of the bank’s investment and protection services (IPS) division that covers asset management, wealth management, insurance and real estate sectors.

The French group said that creation of Private Assets is part of its Growth, Technology and Sustainability (GTS) 2025 strategic plan.

The unit will focus on raising funds from third party clients as well as institutional investors and individual investors with support from BNP Paribas’ distribution networks and partners.

Private Assets will primarily concentrate on two fields, direct management and indirect management.

Direct management will look after several areas, including corporate financing, infrastructure and commercial real estate debt in addition to individuals’ financing with Dutch mortgage firm Dynamic Credit Group.  

Indirect management will oversee investment in private asset funds along with advisory in fund selection.

Private Assets will combine the private asset management capabilities of Principal Investments and its subsidiary BNP Paribas Agility Capital.

It will also incorporate the third-party private asset management offerings of BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) and portion of BNP Paribas Cardif’s private asset management business.

Furthermore, the unit will include environmental, social, and governance (ESG) guidelines while selecting investment and fund.

BNP Paribas head of private asset David Bouchoucha will lead Private Assets, which is anticipated to become functional from January 2023 under BNPP AM.  

The latest development comes shortly after BNP Paribas AM purchased a majority stake in International Woodland Company last week.