Eleven years after its creation, RAM Active Investments SA (RAM AI) is writing a new page in its history. In spring 2018, the Swiss asset management firm, with assets totalling EUR4.2bn, saw the arrival of a top calibre shareholder of reference in Mediobanca, which acquired 69% of its capital. “In light of the competitive environment and increasing regulatory complexity, while remaining operationally independent, having such a partner to allow us to look upon the future with serenity is clearly a good solution,” Thomas de Saint-Seine, CEO of RAM AI, explains to NewsManagers during a visit to Paris. The strong reputation of Mediobanca and its close ties with global players in Italian finance represent major advantages, in his view, for the development and future growth of RAM AI in Italy. “Mediobanca, which has a strong presence in the private banking sector, and which has an online bank in CheBanca! which is growing strongly, has a distribution network which we can exploit for our funds,” de Saint-Seine adds. “The bank also has a major institutional network in Italy, which represents a real source of synergy for us.”This operation also represents a means of diversification for Mediobanca, whose asset management profession was not previously very developed before. “Mediobanca Alternative Asset Management, which is the multi-boutique management platform of the group, only has two asset management firms at this stage, including RAM AI,” says de Saint-Seine. “So this is an important diversification strategy for Mediobanca, which wants to invest more in asset management.”In addition to entering the capital of RAM AI, Mediobanca has also contributed CHF200m in seed money, to help the asset management firm develop its funds, or to create new ones. “This seed money brings us stability for our investors,” de Saint-Seine explains. “This money also helps us to increase our research capacity to grow our funds, and thus to improve our performance.” In detail, USD65m have been injected into the Global Sustainable Income strategy, an ESG equity fund launched four years ago, with assets now totalling USD95m. “At the end of 2017, we launched a multi-asset fund, for which we used a part of this seed money to build up its track record and to increase assets under management to USD45m,” de Saint-Seine says. Lastly, “about USD55m were invested in a managed futures project,” the director adds. RAM AI is not planning to stop there. “We are meanwhile preparing other products for the future, for which we will need to create track records,” de Saint-Seine says.This strategic partnership with Mediobanca will also allow RAM AI to accelerate its development in other European countries. “We already have offices in Zurich, Geneva, and Luxembourg,” de Saint-Seine explains. “We are currently in the process of opening a branch office in Milan, to support our distribution activity based in Luxembourg. This new Milan office will represent a real advantage in terms of distribution, and should allow us to penetrate the Italian market better. In three to five years, depending on market conditions, doubling our assets under management seems like an achievable goal.”In addition to Italy, Germay and France round out the markets that are considered priorities for RAM AI. ‘We are going to invest more in distribution in these three countries,” says de Saint-Seine.