The bet of AXAIn 1985 the approach was radical

On soils in the offices of Orinda bamboo, near San Francisco, 150 AXA Rosenberg employees come and go depending on their mood. Here, a few kilometres east of Berkeley, step to strict schedules and required presence. Each has a connection to home and gauge by itself how to contribute to the development of the technological tool at the heart of the strategy of the company. "Recruiting is our paramount task." "If we make an error of judgment in hiring, it is a problem, because evil of dishonest employees fits our company culture, who wields the stick of the dismissal or the core of the bonus," indicates Stéphane Prunet, AXA Rosenberg pattern. Diva or dilettante, the ideal employee is the perfectionist at work, humbly broken to teamwork.

Specializing in a fundamental quantitative approach to assessment of listed companies, the company has developed a corporate culture innovation needed to beat the market by a few menus points that will guarantee its success. The society is devoid of a clear organization chart, research teams have thirty researchers full-time, supported by the portfolio managers. Veterans, who have spent more than fifteen years of their career in the company, are not uncommon.

Barr Rosenberg himself directs several research projects to AXA Rosenberg, where he went two or three times a month, when it does not run workshops in meditation at the Nyingma Institute, the Tibetan Buddhist centre in Berkeley where he taught since 1982.

Step of short-term objectives

The area of freedom granted to employees, characterized by the absence of objectives in the short term, is necessary for success in the long term of the company, says the President. A success based on the development and refinement of the technology of collection and analysis of the financial and accounting of 19,000 companies listed in the world. "The quality of our work is in the details, and for this, patience is required, then certainly we are slow, concedes Stéphane Prunet with a smile." These last ten years, we have launched two new products, including the expansion of our coverage to emerging markets, particularly in Asia.

Nevertheless, the model walk: AXA Rosenberg has today more than 100 billion in management and hundreds of institutional clients around the world, including giants of the calibre of CalPERS, the largest US pension fund. And society systematically exceeds the performance of the market, 2.70 for the large cap and between 4 and 6.5 for the small cap is better than the targets set by the founders.

AXA Rosenberg was created in 1985 by Barr Rosenberg, Kenneth Reid and two other partners on the basis of belief: companies whose profits are higher than the average of comparable companies in their sector win more than the average of these companies on the markets. It is possible to set a "target value" of a business and therefore the potential of the title of strictly quantitative manner through the financial information published in electronic format (read below "target value", instructions for use).

"We have no exciting story to tell, no great scenario on the future to present." The only thing that matters to us, the figures, said Stéphane Prunet, Chairman of AXA Rosenberg. We have no point of view on the macroeconomic environment, the new range of products or the reputation of the leaders. We believe that sooner or later, these data are reflected in the figures.

The bet of AXA

In 1985, the approach was radical. In 2006, she was adopted by a growing number of investment companies as Barclay's Global Investors, Goldman Sachs, AQR Capital Management (Applied Quantitative Research) and others. But AXA Rosenberg has an advantage: twenty-one years of research and development of its model. It's the bet that was in any case AXA, with the acquisition of Rosenberg in 1999.

The partnership works because "each partner plays its role in accordance with what had been intended from the outset and without seeking to interfere in what whatsoever with the other," says Stéphane Prunet. AXA brings a foundation solid, necessary for the operations of marketing and distribution of Rosenberg, such as evidenced by the international expansion of the company that performs approximately 40 of its sales in Europe and 20 in Asia (the rest in North America). For its part, the Californian company continues to offer a proven and reliable institutional investment product.

AXA Rosenberg has 350 employees worldwide from over 40 nationalities, but growth remains under control. "AXA is more interested in results than by our size, says Stéphane Prunet.". Our interest is to remain small enough that the collegial spirit endures.