Pioneer boosts German business

Pioneer Investments has made a second senior appointment to its German business.

Pioneer Investments has made a second senior appointment to its German business. Oliver Bilal joins as head of sales for both its institutional and wholesale channels. His appointment, which takes effect from April 2011, follows the appointment of Evi Vogl as chief executive, Pioneer Investments, Germany.

Bilal joins the firm from Allianz Global Investors Europe, where he was European head of institutional business development and consultant relations, responsible for the institutional business in Europe. Before joining Allianz GI in 2004, he worked as senior investment consultant at Pension Consult, in the asset management business of HypoVereinsbank for five years.

Sandro Pierri, head of distribution, Western Europe & International, said: “His long-standing international experience in the asset management industry will be instrumental in helping us further strengthen and build our business in Germany, which is one of our largest businesses globally.”

He added: “2010 was a very good year for the International division of Pioneer Investments. Our results have been very encouraging – we have had strong net sales, with all parts of the International business contributing to this success. This momentum has carried on into 2011, as we continue to invest in building our talent pool.”

Pioneer Investments, which at end of February 2011 had €184,381m in assets under management, has faced an uncertain future since its parent, Italian banking group UniCredit, announced in May last year that it was reviewing Pioneer’s future within the group.

A number of foreign asset managers have expressed an interest, including French asset management groups Amundi, BNP Paribas and Natixis. A favoured option among Italian government and business circles is for its merger with Eurizon, the asset management subsidiary of another Italian banking group, Intesa Sanpaolo.

Other options include a part sale or, if an appropriate sale price cannot be agreed, the shelving altogether of the sale. Federico Ghizzoni, chief executive of UniCredit, said a decision would be taken this month.