Amundi hires from Montana as it pushes into secondaries

Amundi Asset Management, Europe’s largest such investor, is making inroads in the secondaries market with a hire from Montana Capital Partners.

The investor has hired Serge Koniski as a managing director for secondaries, according to his LinkedIn profile. Koniski departed Montana in July, almost two years after he joined the Switzerland-headquartered firm, Secondaries Investor reported in July.

Prior to joining Montana, Koniski spent almost a decade at Northleaf Capital Partners, where he focused on sourcing, executing and monitoring secondary, co-investment and primary private equity investments, mainly in Europe and in the energy sector, according to his LinkedIn profile.

A spokesperson for Amundi did not return a request for comment by press time. Montana declined to comment.

Paris-headquartered Amundi hired recruiters to scope out potential team members for a secondaries strategy, Secondaries Investor reported last year. The asset manager is targeting €1 billion of secondaries capital under management by 2025, according to the report.

During its investor day last year outlining its strategic ambitions for 2025, head of real and alternative assets Dominique Carrel-Billiard said Amundi’s “new frontier” for its private equity and infrastructure business was to develop a commingled fund of fund offering aimed at retail investors and small- to medium-sized institutional investors. “This will leverage new skills that we are hiring in secondaries and co-investment,” he added.

Amundi’s alternative and real assets business had assets under management of €72 billion as of the beginning of July and a team of around 280 professionals, according to its website. Its multi-management business, which invests in funds across real estate, private debt, private equity and infrastructure, had €12 billion of AUM up to the end of June with 12 dedicated people working on investments. Its private equity business, which makes minority investments in growth capital and buyout transactions, reached €1 billion of AUM at the end of the first half, its website shows.

Amundi joins a growing list of firms looking to enter the secondaries market. Other firms that have made moves to build out or acquire dedicated teams include Brazilian investment firm Patria Investments, Luxembourg-headquartered buyout firm Astorg and Blue Owl Capital.