Ardian Private Debt raises €3bn for Generation IV fund

Paris/Frankfurt — With a volume of €3 billion, Ardian is laun­ching its largest private debt plat­form to date — meaning that the fourth gene­ra­tion of the private debt plat­form has signi­fi­cantly excee­ded its origi­nal target of €2.5 billion. The Private Debt unit was estab­lished in 2005 and provi­des finan­cing solu­ti­ons for mid-market compa­nies throug­hout Europe. Ardian’s Private Debt team has comple­ted more than 120 tran­sac­tions since the division’s incep­tion and mana­ges $7 billion in assets.

The latest fund has signi­fi­cantly excee­ded the origi­nal fund­rai­sing target of €2.5 billion, buil­ding on the success of the third gene­ra­tion fund, which raised €2 billion in 2015. The focus of the current plat­form remains on provi­ding flexi­ble and indi­vi­du­ally tail­o­red finan­cing solu­ti­ons for Euro­pean compa­nies. The offe­ring was also expan­ded to include so-called “stret­ched senior debt” in order to gain further market share in the M&A busi­ness and in compe­ti­tion with banks. Stret­ched senior debt is a hybrid finan­cing struc­ture that is prima­rily used in corpo­rate acqui­si­ti­ons and dispo­sals and combi­nes various loan tran­ches — simi­lar to unitran­che financing.

More than 90 inves­tors from 15 count­ries have provi­ded funding for the new plat­form, inclu­ding from Europe, Asia and North America. They include insu­rance compa­nies, pension funds, banks, foun­da­ti­ons and govern­ment orga­niza­ti­ons. In parti­cu­lar, the increased share of inves­tors from Asia and North America reflects Ardian’s global posi­tio­ning and diver­si­fied inves­tor base.

Vincent Gombault, Member of the Execu­tive Commit­tee and Global Head of Fund of Funds and Private Debt, said: “With our fifteen-year track record across four fund gene­ra­ti­ons, Ardian has clearly posi­tio­ned itself as one of the leading provi­ders of private debt to Euro­pean mid-market compa­nies. The successful fund­rai­sing is testa­ment to our expe­ri­en­ced invest­ment team, Ardian’s exten­sive asset manage­ment exper­tise and its global network. As a long-stan­­ding active player in the private debt market across diffe­rent credit cycles, Ardian is very well posi­tio­ned to seize the oppor­tu­ni­ties arising with the incre­asing rele­vance of private debt in the global finan­cial market.”

Mark Brenke (photo), Head of Ardian Private Debt and Mana­ging Direc­toradded: “The recent fund­rai­sing high­lights the current momen­tum of Ardian Private Debt and the incre­asing attrac­ti­ve­ness of this asset class. Demand for finan­cing from dyna­mi­cally growing mid-market compa­nies in Europe conti­nues to grow. Based on our strong track-record, we will take advan­tage of oppor­tu­ni­ties presen­ted to us through the expan­ded plat­form in its offe­ring and gradu­ally pene­trate areas previously served exclu­si­vely by banks.”

Thanks to a conti­nuously growing team and diver­si­fied global deal flows, Ardian Private Debt has provi­ded more than one billion euros in finan­cing annu­ally over the past years. At the same time, the number of invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties under inten­sive review by Ardian has increased signi­fi­cantly. Ther­e­fore, the team acts very selec­tively and focu­ses its selec­tion process to realize only the best opportunities.

About Ardian
Ardian is one of the world’s leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment firms, mana­ging appro­xi­m­ately US$96 billion in assets on behalf of its inves­tors from Europe, South and North America and Asia. The company is majo­rity-owned by its employees and gene­ra­tes sustainable, attrac­tive returns for its investors.

With the objec­tive of achie­ving posi­tive results for all stake­hol­ders, Ardian’s acti­vi­ties promote indi­vi­du­als, compa­nies and econo­mies world­wide. Ardian’s invest­ment philo­so­phy is aligned with the three guiding prin­ci­ples of excel­lence, loyalty and entrepreneurship.

The company has a global network of more than 640 employees and 15 offices in Europe (Frank­furt, Jersey, London, Luxem­bourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), South America (Sant­iago de Chile), North America (New York and San Fran­cisco) and Asia (Beijing, Seoul, Singa­pore and Tokyo). Ardian mana­ges the assets of its appro­xi­m­ately 1,000 inves­tors in five invest­ment areas: Direct Funds, Funds of Funds, Infra­struc­ture, Private Debt and Real Estate.