DNCA has a total of 23 funds listed in France and Luxembourg. “In fact, we have twelve funds, but they are listed twice,” explains CEO Eric Franc. “All in all, we manage around 19.5 billion EUR.”
The funds’ portfolio focuses on four core areas. These are European shares (long only and absolute return), multi-asset management, convertible bonds and Eurozone loans.
“In contrast to other fund managers we do not make our decisions on the basis of benchmarks but on the basis of convictions and profound know-how about the company,” says Mr. Franc. “Before we start an investment, our fund managers get to know the management level of the enterprise and thoroughly inspect the macro and micro-economic background.”
Almost 70% of DNCA’s customers come from the wholesale market, the remaining 30% are institutional investors. Today, France is the most important market for DNCA. Yet, in the coming years, the company aims to gain ground abroad.
Already, the fund expert is active in Italy and – of course – in Luxembourg. Thanks to the integration into its parent company Natixis Global Asset Management which is one of the world’s largest asset management companies, DNCA also has access to the Spanish market and as of late, to Switzerland.
“We will enhance our international market share in the coming years,” says Mr. Franc. “We are well-known in the market and thanks to the excellent performance of our funds, customers often approach us. Thanks to the integration into Natixis last year, we were able to win new clients. Also, we got access to new capital.”
DNCA Finance was founded by Xavier Delaye, Charles Nouailhetas and Joseph Châtel in 2000. Two years later, Jean-Charles Mériaux entered the capital, too. In 2006, other minority shareholders joined and finally the Banca Leonardo acquired minority shares of DNCA. This was a milestone in the development of DNCA paving the way into the Italian Market.
In the following years, the shareholders kept changing. In 2015, Naxitis took on 71% of the company shares. The remaining shares are in the hands of the management. Altogether, DNCA has a staff of 92 of whom 25 are fund managers.
“This year, the market is still quite volatile,” says Mr. Franc. “The first months were not easy. Still, we are confident. We believe that European equities will be able to realize good values. Due to the prevailing low interest rates, there are no alternative investment strategies. Yet, we will continue to focus on European companies. The international expansion of our activities is an important pillar of our future strategy. We will concentrate on Europe as we see the most promising perspectives here. Also, the winning of new talent is a key issue on our future agenda. Over the years, we managed to attract several specialists from the market and to bind them to our company. Carl Auffret and Isaac Chebar who achieve outstanding performances with their funds, are only two examples. We do not depend on just one person. We act as a team. We believe that this strategy is a major success factor of DNCA.”
