Euro 100
In good markets and bad, it always helps to be selling what institutional investors are buying. Last year some of the firms rising fastest in the 2003 Euro 100, Institutional Investor's ranking of the region's biggest money managers, exploited growing demand for specialist asset management. Last year assets at London-based Capital International, a unit of the U.S. Capital Group Cos., declined a modest 4 percent in euros (and were up 13.5 percent in dollar terms). Capital, which has an excellent reputation for specialist equity and bond management in the U.S., benefited greatly as U.K. institutions abandoned balanced (multiasset) managers in favor of firms with expertise in particular types of assets. Goldman Sachs Asset Management International, a unit of the New York-based investment bank, also benefited from the trend.
To complete the ranking, Institutional Investor surveyed approximately 200 banks, insurance companies, pension funds, independent fund managers and foreign money management firms with registered offices in Europe. European companies and companies headquartered in Europe (for example, HSBC Holdings) were asked to report global assets under management. Non-European companies were allowed to report only European-derived assets (invested domestically or internationally) and non-European assets slated for investment in Europe. Senior Associate Editor Tucker Ewing compiled the data from questionnaires completed by the institutions themselves. This information was supported by annual reports, additional reporting and follow-up faxes and telephone calls.
The numbers are as comparable as possible given the different accounting practices in Europe. Assets are stated in euros. In some cases, assets at continental European institutions are higher than reported because their accounting rules require that they value assets at the lower of cost or market value. Currency conversion and rounding mean that not all columns add up. All information is as of December 31, 2002.