M&G Investments is looking to build on the achievements listed in the most recent set of M&G plc annual results, deploying private markets ‘dry powder’, taking advantage of performance through active management and leveraging use of AI – despite macro uncertainty linked to war in the Middle East, says CEO Joseph Pinto.
The plc results released on 12 March point to positive net inflows into both public and private markets segments in the 2025 financial year: some £3.1bn in public markets and £3.9bn in private markets.
Assets in the AM business increased from £315bn to £345bn, of which £81bn was reported as in private assets.
International AUMA of some £107bn now represents 59% of third party AUMA, the group reported.
Institutional clients accounted for some £4bn of these inflows, and it marked the first time since 2023 that UK institutional flows were net positive alongside international institutional and wholesale.
Pinto suggests that once the roughly £8bn in private markets dry powder is committed, it will generate further net flows.
“The results reflect a very coherent, clear strategy we put in place over the past three years. We clarified our strategy. We are an active manager. We want to be the go-to manager for Europe.”
Active management
Pinto says it is key to recognise that the results came off the back of active management. At a time when the active industry more broadly saw outflows over the financial year period, M&G generated positive inflows, he stresses.
He distinguishes between the gains made off market movements and the ability to generate outperformance.
The published results point to some 90% of assets under management and administration (AUMA) being ranked in the top two quartiles over five years, and some 75% of AUMA being ranked in the top two quartiles over three years.
“If I look at the equity flows… across Europe, Asia Pacific and Latam… net flows of equity was almost £250bn, of which active management equity last year… was £-21bn. We did £+3.4bn in funds.”
“Not everybody deserves to be in that active space,” he says.
Growth came across different asset classes, such as emerging market credit and equity, real estate, private credit and infrastructure. Geographically, advances came in Continental Europe, Asia, North America. And the blue chip client roster is building, Pinto says.
Future
Efficiency and scalability are key objectives in ongoing implementation of AI. For example, M&G is looking to accelerate lead times on RFPs. Investment teams are described by Pinto as already being well staffed.
“As we are in a growth phase, the challenge for us is to make sure that we can keep the revenues growing faster than the cost base.”
Referring to the prospect of $200 oil, and the impact this could have, Pinto believes that governments and central banks have mechanisms to react before such a peak is reached.
He also suggests that investors have learned from previous cycles, and are less likely to be panicked into redeeming at the bottom of the market.
From the M&G perspective, “what matters the most is that whenever the active management players are suffering, we are not… That gives me more resilience than the average player out there.”
Being diversified across geographies and asset classes also supports the resilience, because it means M&G is there to meet the investors – barring an extreme case when everybody puts their money into bank deposits, he adds.
