Ardian: Fund specializing in the European semiconductor industry

Frank­furt a.M. / Paris (Fr) — Ardian announ­ced the closing of the first invest­ment of its Euro­pean semi­­con­­duc­­tor-focu­­sed plat­form Ardian Semi­con­duc­tor. The fund acqui­res Ion Beam Services (IBS), an inno­va­tive Euro­pean provi­der of equip­ment and services to the semi­con­duc­tor indus­try. IBS was foun­ded in 1987 and is head­quar­te­red in France. The company specia­li­zes in equip­ment and services in the field of ion implan­ta­tion, a funda­men­tal process in semi­con­duc­tor front-end manu­fac­tu­ring. The company’s tech­no­logy and products address high-growth specialty appli­ca­tion areas in energy, connec­ti­vity, imaging and sens­ing. Ardian Semi­con­duc­tor is a unique plat­form for invest­ments in the Euro­pean semi­con­duc­tor indus­try that was laun­ched last year. It combi­nes the private equity exper­tise of Ardian with the sector exper­tise of Silian Part­ners in an exclu­sive part­ner­ship. The invest­ment provi­des addi­tio­nal capi­tal for the imple­men­ta­tion of IBS’s ambi­tious growth stra­tegy and provi­des for the succes­sion of the company’s foun­der and current CEO Laurent Roux, who is reti­ring. The semi­con­duc­tor indus­try is one of the key sectors in the digi­tal and sustainable trans­for­ma­tion of the global economy. Due to the fore­seeable contin­ued importance of the mega­trends of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, hyper­con­nec­ti­vity, elec­tri­fi­ca­tion, mobi­lity and indus­trial auto­ma­tion, as well as the constantly growing number of intel­li­gent and networked devices, fore­casts predict that the sector will double in size to a volume of one tril­lion US dollars by 2030. IBS’s exper­tise is helping to support the deve­lo­p­ment of these future areas. With Ardian Semi­con­duc­tor, a unique plat­form for invest­ments in the Euro­pean semi­con­duc­tor indus­try was laun­ched last year, which combi­nes the private equity exper­tise of Ardian with the sector exper­tise of Silian Part­ners as part of an exclu­sive part­ner­ship. Silian Part­ners’ seaso­ned profes­sio­nals have more than 140 years of combi­ned invest­ment expe­ri­ence and contri­bute to the plat­form with their sector network, stra­te­gic exper­tise and opera­tio­nal expe­ri­ence. Toge­ther, Ardian and Silian Part­ners offer inno­va­tive and flexi­ble capi­tal solu­ti­ons as well as stra­te­gic and opera­tio­nal exper­tise to accom­pany strong tech­no­logy compa­nies on their way to beco­ming global market leaders in their respec­tive segments. This gives Ardian Semi­con­duc­tor a unique posi­tio­ning in Europe, a global leader in the semi­con­duc­tor indus­try for mobi­lity and indus­trial appli­ca­ti­ons. This is supported by a rich ecosys­tem of rese­arch centers and compa­nies in deve­lo­p­ment, equip­ment and mate­ri­als, as well as govern­ment funding initia­ti­ves such as the €43 billion Euro­pean Chips Act. On this basis, Europe is well posi­tio­ned to help shape the next wave of inno­va­tion in semi­con­duc­tor development. 

“We are deligh­ted to announce the first invest­ment of the Ardian Semi­con­duc­tor plat­form with the acqui­si­tion of IBS. Our goal is to build leading compa­nies in the Euro­pean semi­con­duc­tor indus­try through an inno­va­tive and highly opera­tio­nally driven approach. We will leverage our private equity exper­tise and unique stra­te­gic part­ner­ship with Silian Part­ners to achieve this.” Lise Faucon­nier, Senior Mana­ging Direc­tor, Ardian, said. “We look forward to support­ing IBS in its deve­lo­p­ment. We will build on the wealth of tech­no­lo­gi­cal know­ledge and expe­ri­ence that Laurent Roux and his highly talen­ted team have accu­mu­la­ted over the past nearly 40 years and bring our stra­te­gic and opera­tio­nal exper­tise to shar­pen product diffe­ren­tia­tion, streng­then custo­mer focus and take the company to the next level of growth,” said Dr. Bernard Aspar, Part­ner, Silian Part­ners.

About Ardian

Ardian is a leading global inde­pen­dent invest­ment firm. The company mana­ges or advi­ses assets tota­ling around US$ 169 billion for more than 1,680 inves­tors world­wide. Thanks to its exten­sive exper­tise in private equity, real assets and credit, Ardian offers a wide range of invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties as well as custo­mi­zed invest­ment solu­ti­ons — tail­o­red to inves­tors’ needs: Ardian Custo­mi­zed Solu­ti­ons enables insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors to access best-in-class mana­gers across all asset clas­ses through a custo­mi­zed port­fo­lio. Ardian Private Wealth Solu­ti­ons also offers a range of services speci­fi­cally geared to high net worth individuals.

Ardian’s employees are also the company’s largest share­hol­der group. Ardian atta­ches great importance to their deve­lo­p­ment, as well as a culture of coope­ra­tion based on an active exch­ange of know­ledge and expe­ri­ence. The more than 1,050 employees at 19 office loca­ti­ons in Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East follow the prin­ci­ples of respon­si­ble invest­ment. Ardian’s mission is to make a posi­tive contri­bu­tion to society through its invest­ments and to create value that lasts. Ardian aims to deli­ver excel­lent returns in line with high ethi­cal stan­dards and social respon­si­bi­lity. At Ardian, ever­yone is dedi­ca­ted to buil­ding successful compa­nies for the long term. ardian.com

About IBS

IBS specia­li­zes in inno­va­tive ion implan­ta­tion solu­ti­ons and enables its custo­mers to bene­fit flexi­bly from IBS’ exper­tise through a unique 360° offe­ring of equip­ment, equip­ment services and foundry services. IBS opera­tes prima­rily from its offices in France, the UK and Singa­pore. The company was foun­ded in 1987 and is based in Peynier, France. ion-beam-services.com