With 750 expert staff across 14 countries, PERES is a European market leader, taking the No. 1 spot in France and Luxembourg* in terms of custody, and ranking among the top 5 groups in 6 other key European jurisdictions, with almost €630bn under depositary and over €300bn under administration. With a clientele of top tier investment companies across Europe, the UK and the US, PERES is Europe’s leading asset servicing provider for non-listed European funds.
The Private Equity Real Estate Solutions (PERES) business line was created in 2014 with an initial team of 130 people based mainly in France and Luxembourg, and around €100 billion in assets under depository. Today, a decade later, PERES is one of the leading groups supporting the unlisted asset investment community.
“This exceptional growth is a reflection of our long-standing commitment to our clients. Some of the most prestigious investment managers have placed their trust in our group, proving that we are a key partner in this business segment. 2023 set a new high-water mark for CACEIS in terms of the unlisted assets we hold in depositary for our clients, and this rising trend is continuing into 2024”, says Arnaud Garel-Galais, Global Head of PERES.
The success of PERES rests on several core pillars: a business culture that is laser-focused on quality and client satisfaction, teams who understand private assets’ non-standard servicing needs, and a range of additional services that are well-adapted to cover the entire European market. Our incessant focus on client satisfaction is strengthened by our programme of continuous investment into technology. Having set up a successful enterprise data management platform (EDM) to handle investor documentation, and integrated Yardi Voyager’s web-based solution which enables private equity, infrastructure and private debt activities to be better integrated and managed via a single platform for fund administration, CACEIS has recently partnered with RegTech specialist, AlphaOmega to bring clients a series of efficient PRIIPs reporting services.
“PERES staff, whether they’re in a sales, operational or cross-functional role, work with a clear agenda: demonstrate every day why we deserve our place as our clients‘ preferred custodian and fund administrator”, explains Frédéric Ullens, Deputy Global Head of PERES.
PERES benefits from being part of Crédit Agricole Group's Private Capital Services division, which involves 9** of our sister companies. By leveraging this wider network, we can offer comprehensive solutions that cover the fund’s entire lifecycle as well as additional products. Through our work as a fund administrator, custodian and provider of bridge financing solutions, PERES is contributing to a sustainable impact on society, whether through employment, agriculture, education, infrastructure, energy or housing.
Ambition for the years ahead
“We are currently focused on performing client migrations within the framework of the deal for RBC’s European asset servicing activity, while maintaining the high level of quality our existing clients expect. Going forward, we aim to strengthen the loyalty of our clients by further investing in innovative services to create added value and offer an industry-leading client experience. We are also raising our commercial targets and winning new business mandates while seeking to build the solid and long-lasting partnerships with new clients that characterise our servicing”, comments Olivia Zitouni, Group Head of PERES Coverage & Client Management.
PERES is adapting to meet clients’ changing needs, particularly in the areas of private debt and hybrid funds.
Private Debt and hybrid funds
The private debt market, which represents an alternative to banks for financing the economy, has grown significantly over the last two years despite the fall in interest rates. Private debt accounts for nearly 10% of all assets deposited with CACEIS, which amounts to around €50 billion spread over more than 350 funds and nearly eighty management companies. Private debt assets should therefore continue to show strong growth over the next few years as a result of investors' growing appetite for this asset class and its opening up to retail clients. In both France and Luxembourg, CACEIS serves the premier fund houses operating in this sector.
CACEIS is keen to promote its services to private debt managers across traditional business lines (custody, fund administration and registrar) and seeks to offer investment management companies middle-office outsourcing services such as loan administration. Within the framework of such services, the PERES business line is about to finalise a partnership with a specialist service provider and work is underway to develop a similar in-house solution in the medium term.
In addition, the boom in hybrid or ‘mixed’ funds, which combine listed and unlisted assets, including private debt, has prompted CACEIS to develop cross-functional service offerings and to upgrade its IT platforms to raise the scope and quality of the administration for both types of asset classes. In this area, a major IT project is currently being implemented.
“I would like to thank all our clients for the continued confidence they have shown us over the past decade. Let's keep building this ambitious and sustainable future for the real asset industry together”, concludes Arnaud Garel-Galais.
*source: Monterey Insight 2024 report
**Amundi, CACEIS, Crédit Agricole Midcap Advisors, Crédit Agricole d'Ile-de-France, Crédit Agricole Leasing & Factoring, Indosuez Wealth Management, IDIA Capital Investissement, LCL.
