The insurer-owned fund house gathered a net €4.5bn from third-party clients. Institutional fixed income, multi-asset, unit-linked and alternative credit were singled out as the biggest contributors.
Net revenue rose 5% year-on-year to €1.6bn at the end of December, driven by higher performance fees and contributions from its recent acquisitions of private debt and equity specialist Capza and US-based private equity firm W Capital.
Axa IM’s alternatives division secured €10bn of third party capital during the year, with its infrastructure business alone raising more than €1bn.
 
Underlying earnings — the company’s preferred measure of profit — rose 12% for the year to €402m. Axa IM attributed the increase to higher revenue and lower operating expenses.
 
Marco Morelli, executive chair of Axa IM, said the results came despite a “complex and evolving market environment in 2024”.
“Our ability to adapt and capitalise on opportunities across our business units has been a key factor in this success,” said Morelli.
 
The results for Axa IM come ahead of a landmark tie-up with BNP Paribas. The two announced in August last year that they were in talks to strike a deal. 
A merger will create a new investment management behemoth in Europe with around €1.5tn in assets under management, making it the second-largest player behind Amundi.
 
BNP Paribas said in a statement at the time that a deal would allow it to benefit from Axa IM’s alternatives business and expertise in private markets — one of the fastest-growing segments of the industry.
 
“We look ahead to 2025 with a strong foundation, a proven track record and strong expertise and the exciting prospect of opening a new chapter of our growth story with BNP Paribas,” said Morelli.