Yves Perrier is to step down as chief executive officer of Amundi to become chairman of the board, with Valérie Baudson stepping into his role at the asset management firm.
The company made the announcement as part of its Q4 2020 results, which indicated that Perrier would be leaving the position he has held for 14 years. He will formally step down on 10 May 2021.
Under his stewardship, the company had undertaken several major developments, including the acquisition of Pioneer Investments, which led it to become one of the largest global asset managers.
In 2020 alone, Perrier had helped oversee a deepening of the Paris-headquartered group’s push into China through a joint venture with Bank of China, as well as the acquisition of Sabadell Asset Management.
Speaking to Citywire Selector before Christmas, Perrier branded Amundi ‘a natural consolidator’ in the face of growing merger and acquisition activity in the asset management industry.
In a statement as part of its results, Amundi said: ‘Under the leadership of Yves Perrier, the company saw substantial development achieved through organic growth, supplemented by successful external growth operations, in particular the acquisition of Pioneer in 2017.
‘Assets under management rose 2.5-fold between 2010 and 2020 and earnings have virtually doubled since its Initial Public Offering in 2015. The company’s stock market capitalization has also virtually doubled since the IPO.
‘Going beyond its economic performance, Amundi has confirmed its position as a leader in ESG, particularly by applying extra-financial criteria across all its management operations.’
His successor as CEO, Valérie Baudson, is currently in charge of CPR Asset Management, the thematic arm of Amundi. She has been with eh company for 14 years and has sat on the Amundi Executive Committee since 2013.
Amundi said Baudson has been instrumental in its growth in indexing and ETFs, as well as in her contribution to the general management of the company.
