The Alumia joint venture has launched to complement Universal Investment and its position in the fund services and Super ManCo sector with fund distribution power.

Headquartered in Luxembourg, Alumia is a MiFID regulated investment advisory firm that provides clients with access to high quality and innovative investment strategies.

It also advises a range of sophisticated clients including asset managers and asset owners like corporates or family offices.

Alumia CEO David Saab has a 20 year career in banking and asset management at JPMorgan, Rothschild, and more recently as co-founder of Aperture Investors.

The majority of shares in the joint venture will be held by Alumia while Universal Investment is a founding partner with a significant minority stake.

In addition, the firm has made investments in its own fund distribution team targeting institutional investors in the German-speaking team.

Alumia contributes to this with active distribution also in France, Benelux, Southern Europe and internationally.

Furthermore, the joint venture is another important milestone for Universal Investment Group as it continues to grow with its clients, expand its business, addresses new international client groups, and thereby gets closer to its goal of becoming the leading European fund service platform and Super ManCo for all asset classes.

“For asset managers, building an experienced and global sales force, while meeting regulatory requirements and also using digital channels, has steadily become more challenging and costly,” said Saab.

“Active distribution capabilities are a key differentiator for Third-Party ManCos and AIFMs such as Universal Investment Group,” added Universal Investment’s chief customer officer Katja Müller.

“Partnering with Alumia is therefore an important milestone in our approach to further expand our existing distribution capabilities and boost our attractiveness as a fund service platform and ManCo.”