Ardian Expansion raises 2 MRD. EURO for fifth fund generation

Paris/ Frank­furt am Main — Ardian, a leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment firm, today announ­ced the successful fund­rai­sing of €2 billion for its latest expan­sion fund, Ardian Expan­sion Fund V. Despite the chal­len­ging market envi­ron­ment due to Covid-19, Ardian Expan­sion has thus doubled the fund size compared to the previous gene­ra­tion in just six months, which also speaks for the unch­an­ged high attrac­ti­ve­ness of high-growth Euro­pean mid-cap companies.

Ardian Expan­sion Fund V has a global and diver­si­fied inves­tor base. While more than one-third of inves­tors inves­ted with Ardian for the first time, inves­tors in previous gene­ra­ti­ons of funds repre­sent half of the new fund’s volume, a testa­ment to their long-term confi­dence in the expan­sion team and the attrac­ti­ve­ness of the asset class. Thanks to new inves­tors from the Asia and Middle East regi­ons, the fund has also broa­dened its geogra­phi­cal focus.

In addi­tion, the fund expan­ded its inves­tor base, which now includes a sove­reign wealth fund for the first time along­side insu­rance compa­nies, high net worth indi­vi­du­als and pension funds. Seve­ral mana­gers from Ardian Expansion’s port­fo­lio compa­nies have also subscri­bed to fund units. They account for nearly five percent of the fund’s assets, unders­coring the good rela­ti­onships the expan­sion team has built with the manage­ment teams of their port­fo­lio companies.

With a total of 27 profes­sio­nals in Paris, Frank­furt am Main, Milan and Luxem­bourg, the Ardian Expan­sion team will conti­nue its stra­tegy of support­ing successful entre­pre­neurs in imple­men­ting their growth plans. On average, Ardian Expansion’s port­fo­lio compa­nies have each grown orga­ni­cally by more than ten percent in the past and have reali­zed almost four acqui­si­ti­ons on average. Thus, the stra­te­gic value of the compa­nies was increased through acce­le­ra­ted transformation.

Fran­çois Jerpha­gnon, Head of Ardian Expan­sion, said: “We are hono­red by the trust our inves­tors have placed in us. To double the fund size from our prede­ces­sor fund in just six months speaks to the success of our stra­tegy and the finan­cial perfor­mance it is deli­ve­ring for our inves­tors. Part of this invest­ment philo­so­phy, which we have culti­va­ted for 20 years, is to build strong rela­ti­onships with expe­ri­en­ced and dedi­ca­ted manage­ment teams and acce­le­rate value crea­tion for all stake­hol­ders through the Ardian platform.”

Ardian’s expan­sion team is focu­sed on buil­ding long-term rela­ti­onships with manage­ment teams — on average, there are about three years between first meeting and an invest­ment. As part of its flexi­ble invest­ment approach, the team is able to take both mino­rity and majo­rity stakes. This approach is also reflec­ted in the team’s strong track record of support­ing manage­ment teams in the areas of digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion and sustaina­bi­lity. For exam­ple, the team supports digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion projects at Diam and CCC, as well as native digi­tal busi­ness models, such as at CLS and Berlin Brands Group. As a pioneer in the imple­men­ta­tion of profit-sharing, Ardian and the Expan­sion Team distri­bute a portion of the profits reali­zed through growth to the employees of its port­fo­lio compa­nies upon dive­st­ment. Since the intro­duc­tion of this concept ten years ago, around 15 port­fo­lio compa­nies of Ardian Expan­sion have alre­ady bene­fi­ted from the profit-sharing scheme.

Despite the econo­mic down­turn in the COVID-19 pande­mic, Ardian Expan­sion contin­ued to make new invest­ments. The team has focu­sed on compa­nies that have strong orga­nic and exter­nal growth poten­tial and operate in robust sectors. The new fund is alre­ady 10 percent inves­ted. In May 2020, i.e. still during the lock-down, the purchase agree­ment was signed for Swiss­bit, a provi­der of NAND flash-based storage as well as embedded IoT solu­ti­ons for deman­ding niche appli­ca­ti­ons with substan­tial orga­nic growth poten­tial. This was follo­wed in July 2020 by the acqui­si­tion of Finaxy, a leading French broad-based insu­rance broker with a track record of strong orga­nic as well as exter­nal growth. The strong manage­ment teams in each case were among the decisive factors in the closing of these transactions.

About Ardian
Ardian is one of the world’s leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment firms, mana­ging over US$100 billion in assets for 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 690 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 more than 1,000 inves­tors in five invest­ment areas: Direct Funds, Funds of Funds, Infra­struc­ture, Private Debt and Real Estate.