Fund manager offers Societe Generale renewed access to Dutch market

Wilgenhaege Capital Markets has teamed up with Societe Generale for the launch of ING Click 14% in the Netherlands. The medium-term note - the French bank's first public offer in the Dutch market in almost five years - is linked to the share of ING Group and can be redeemed early, annually, if the share has stayed the same or has risen compared to its initial level. In that case, investors receive 100% capital return and a coupon of 14% per year elapsed.

Although Wilgenhaege has worked with Societe Generale in the past, in recent years the fund manager has mainly collaborated with BNP Paribas (and before that with ING Bank) for its public offers.

"We believe it is important that we can do business with a number of parties because that way it becomes easier for us to offer different types of products, so your palette becomes broader, and Societe Generale is a good, solid and very professional party," said Jerry Langelaar (pictured), chief executive officer at Wilgenhaege.

In addition, you also have to think about diversification of the issuing parties you offer, according to Langelaar. "If a customer buys a lot of investment products from you it becomes too risky if you only offer products from one manufacturer," he said.

It is the first time since 2013 Societe Generale has been the issuing company behind a retail offering in the Netherlands, according to SRP data. Back then, the bank's SG Issuer vehicle launched five structured notes linked to the Eurostoxx 50, which were distributed, among other, via Forza Asset Management. However, the French bank does offer a range of listed certificates to Dutch investors including daily bull & bear certificates, best turbos and turbos life.

Wilgenhaege charges a one-off brokerage fee of 4% over the nominal value (€40 per participation of €1,000) while Societe Generale, as the issuer, charges a one-off management fee of maximum 2% - included in the issue price - which includes the costs for the structuring of the product, costs related to settlement via Euroclear Netherlands and the legal and administrative costs.

The structure is the sixth product in the fund managers 'Click' series, each of which have been linked to Dutch shares such as Aegon, Ahold, ASML, Royal Dutch Shell and now ING, companies familiar to investors in the Netherlands. "We are very positive about ING," said Langelaar. "It is a share we also have in our equity portfolio. We think that the company with the information technology it is successfully implementing has very good long-term prospects in the financial sector."

Five-years ago, on July 17, 2013, the share of ING closed at €8.17. Since then the price has remained remarkably stable, peaking at €17.65 on January 22, 2018 before setting in a decline and closing at €12.50 on July 16. The average performance of the share during the past five years is €12.46.

The SRP Netherlands database lists 43 structured products from Wilgenhaege, dating back to October 2002. The majority of products were linked to equities including 16 products linked to a single index (mainly the Eurostoxx 50), and 17 to a single share. A further eight products were linked to a basket of shares while single products were linked to funds and FX rates, respectively. Last year the fund manager distributed five structured notes for a combined €8m.

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