Please find below the interview of the new CEO Xavier Parain by the newspaper Paperjam, which you can find here.

Lemanik – Interview Paperjam – March 2025

1. As the new CEO of Lemanik Asset Management, what are your immediate priorities for the company in this post-acquisition phase?

My first priority is to engage with our clients. Lemanik has built strong relationships with them over the years and I want reassure them about our commitment to continue delivering the highest quality of service.

I am also spending a lot of time with the teams to get to know everyone. I intend to be closely involved in all aspects of the operations and I want our culture to be based open communication as we are all, as a team, in charge of meeting our clients needs and expectations. I also want to share my experience of larger financial institutions and am happy to see that the teams are eager to learn from it.

My objective is to quickly embark everyone, both our clients and the teams, on my vision for the business: offer the best value proposition for management company services to small and mid-sized asset managers, through a range of services tailored to their specific needs and an open-architecture model allowing asset managers to independently select their delegated providers, in particular fund administration.

2. With approximately 85 professionals at Lemanik, how do you plan to align the team with the company’s new strategic direction?

I felt a lot of excitement across teams when I presented the strategy. There is a shared view that there is an unmet need from small and mid-sized asset managers to have independent and high-quality management company services addressing their specific needs. It is a great starting point.

Now my job is to ensure that the execution of this strategy does not negatively impact day-to-day delivery to our clients, but creates value for them. And as the business grows, we will look to hire talented people to join the team.

3. Will there be any organisational restructuring or leadership changes following the acquisition?

My ambition is to grow the business, develop new services for our clients and grow outside of Luxembourg. For all this we will need new team members. We will also strengthen the management team to support the implementation of the new strategy and bring in new skills.

4. Under BlackFin’s ownership, how do you envision Lemanik’s growth, and what are the key strategic goals for the next three to five years

As I said, we see a market opportunity on small and mid-size asset managers, looking for solutions tailored to their needs and a high-quality, independent service in open architecture. We also welcome large asset managers, but our strategy is not so much about playing a volume game to
increase assets under management. We are committed to maintaining the culture and focus on quality of service that our clients appreciate with us.

Over the next years, we intend to expand our value proposition to our clients with new services, attract new clients in Luxembourg and abroad, and grow our international presence to support them in their key markets. This will be achieved through organic growth but also through acquisitions.

5. Lemanik has built a reputation serving small and mid-sized asset managers.

We want to maintain this reputation and continue to serve this segment of the market. We have observed some small and mid-sized asset managers frustrated by the quality of service provided by larger players. I am well positioned to know that those larger competitors can be a relevant option for large asset managers. But as an asset manager, you want to be sure your management company puts your needs first, regardless of your assets under management. This is why there is room for a company like Lemanik with a genuine attention to its clients.

6. How do you plan to strengthen and expand this market position?

In the past years we have seen a lot of convergence between management company and fund administration services providers in the market. Lemanik has stayed away from this trend and remains a pure-player in the management company space. This is a key element of differentiation for us. I believe in a true open-architecture model with key fund administrators and depositaries in the market. My vision of the role of a management company is to find the best services providers for asset managers based on their needs, and to implement efficient processes with these service providers.

We plan to replicate the success of Lemanik in other European countries, for example France.

Additionally, distribution services and all services aimed at helping to help asset managers to raise new assets are also priorities. With over 100 clients from across the world, I am sure that I will have plenty of ideas for new projects and services to deliver to our existing clients

7. With growing regulatory complexity and industry consolidation, what competitive advantages will Lemanik focus on to stand out in the market?

We have a team with a long track record and experts in the market.
We will deliver something different from what we see :
1. A specific segment in the market (mid and small size managers)
2. A pure manco model : fund admin and depositaries will be selected to match the type of clients and strategy of clients
3. A very efficient setup by all enhanced systems and solutions to implement
4. New services like distribution in line with the needs of our clients

8. BlackFin has mentioned expansion through targeted investments in ‘capital-light businesses.’ Can you share any details on what types of firms Lemanik is looking to acquire or invest in? Will these be primarily in Europe or beyond?

With the increasing complexity of investments and associated risks, costs of running a regulated company, increasing system costs (market data …), and difficulties in recruiting experts, we believe that we can play a key role in the consolidation of the management company market in Luxembourg and other European countries. We are open to discussing potential partnerships or merger with management companies of the same culture and strategy, both independent players or captive businesses of financial institutions.

9. In 2024, Lemanik was fined by the CSSF for non-compliance regarding delegate oversight. What measures have been taken to address these issues and enhance governance?

Before joining Lemanik, I ensured that the fine related to delegate oversight in 2021 during covid period was fully remediated. The CSSF also confirmed in the fine publication that corrective measures had been implemented. I have a particular attention to compliance after having worked for 7 years with the French regulator for the asset management industry. We now have the tools, processes and people in place to implement the best market standards in delegates oversight.

10. The asset management industry is evolving rapidly, from ESG regulations to digitalisation. How is Lemanik positioning itself to adapt to these trends?

ESG is an important part of the regulation of the asset management industry in Europe. We will accelerate the ESG initiatives of Lemanik by promoting and integrating ESG internally and across the business. Concretely, this will, among other, include full carbon footprint calculation and participation in market initiatives. I want ESG to be at the heart of the team, and the ESG committee will be increasingly involved in helping the management team to find impactful initiatives for the company. This will also help onboarding new customers where ESG is increasingly becoming a criterion when selecting its service provider. As an example, we have recently won a tender process, partly on the back of ours and BlackFin’s ESG track record. Lemanik will also help clients to comply with the new regulatory requirements with a full set of ESG tools.
Digitalization is indeed an important topic for management companies. We are monitoring carefully innovations and continuously assess if and how to integrate them in our operations. We will also benefit from the expertise of BlackFin, our new shareholder. BlackFin manages the largest venture capital fund dedicated to financial services in Europe and can assist us in identifying promising innovations and implementing them.

11. With increasing investor interest in alternative assets and private markets, does Lemanik plan to expand its service offering to cater to these segments?

Alternative and private assets are large part of the market growth in Luxembourg and other European countries. We are already active in this market. Over the past few years, we have invested significantly in processes, systems, and people to provide relevant solutions on these assets. Having said that, a deep understanding of valuation methodologies and the liquidity of underlying assets is a must. We only onboard strategies where we are fully comfortable. Evergreen funds, funds with
defined maturity, master feeder, innovative sub fund structuring … we have already a long track record on tailor made solutions for private markets.