Natixis

Natixis Investment Managers is refocusing on its strategic initiatives after failing to establish a joint venture with Generali last year.

In 2025, Natixis IM’s parent BPCE and Generali announced their intention to establish a joint venture between their respective asset management operations. But negotiations ultimately collapsed after the plan was vehemently opposed by the Italian government and by two of Generali’s largest shareholders.

With the joint venture now off the table, Natixis IM, led by CEO Philippe Setbon since December 2023, is bringing the focus back to some of its long-term internal initiatives. One of these has been the gradual simplification of the affiliate network. It historically spanned as many as two dozen entities but has most recently shrunk to 15 firms. While Natixis IM continues to afford its subsidiaries almost complete autonomy in terms of investment processes, hiring decisions, and operations, it does set the tone in some aspects. For example, it orchestrated a strategic merger between its affiliates Mirova and Thematics AM (finalized in January 2026) to increase its focus on thematic investing, where it hopes to double assets under management by 2030. There is also an increased impetus across the group to focus on the most scalable strategies, which may entail rationalization of subscale or underperforming products. Meanwhile, some of the firm’s most successful affiliates, like Loomis Sayles and Harris Associates (which manages the Oakmark funds), remain exemplary stewards of investors’ capital. But succession planning is looming in the case of the latter, with key managers like Bill Nygren and David Herro getting nearer to the end of their careers. Other subsidiaries have been less successful, and Natixis IM’s hands-off approach proved insufficient to prevent the significant failings that took place at affiliate H2O (which the group is still in the process of divesting from).

After failing to find a long-term partner in Generali, Natixis IM may continue seeking partnerships elsewhere. That bears watching, but in the meantime, the firm still has room to improve its overall fund lineup to achieve better investor outcomes. Natixis retains its Parent rating of Average for now.