Ardian: Record of € 3.2 billion for Expansion Fund VI

Paris — Ardian, a leading global private invest­ment house, today announ­ced the successful closing of its sixth gene­ra­tion expan­sion fund, Ardian Expan­sion Fund VI (AEF VI), at €3.2 billion. The successful closing unders­cores the strong support and confi­dence of Ardian’s global inves­tor base. Of the 200 limi­ted part­ners (LPs) parti­ci­pa­ting in the fund, appro­xi­m­ately 80 inves­tors retur­ned from AEF V, contri­bu­ting nearly half of the capi­tal raised and incre­asing their commit­ments by an average of 13%. — At the same time, AEF VI welco­med nearly 120 new inves­tors, inclu­ding more than 50 first-time Ardian clients, demons­t­ra­ting the broad appeal and confi­dence in Ardian’s expan­sion invest­ment stra­tegy and track record. Geogra­phi­cally, the fund attrac­ted a highly diver­si­fied group of inves­tors with LPs from 28 count­ries world­wide, with signi­fi­cant increa­ses in commit­ments from LPs in MENA, the Ameri­cas, Asia, the UK, the Nordics and the Nether­lands. Ardian saw an increase in commit­ments from pension funds and private wealth inves­tors, with private wealth clients accoun­ting for 25% of the fund’s LP base, compared to 16% for AEF V. This group includes 33 CEOs and members of senior manage­ment of previous Ardian Expan­sion port­fo­lio compa­nies. In line with Expansion’s stra­tegy, AEF VI aims to support high-growth indus­try leaders through invest­ments of between €50 million and €300 million targe­ting private mid-market compa­nies led by commit­ted and visio­nary entre­pre­neurs. The fund is alre­ady 33% deployed and has comple­ted eight tran­sac­tions in cate­­gory-leading compa­nies. As a pioneer in the concept of sharing value, Ardian distri­bu­tes a portion of its capi­tal gains to employees of its port­fo­lio compa­nies upon exit. To date, 81% of expan­sion port­fo­lio compa­nies have bene­fi­ted from this initia­tive. 8,000 employees in 20 exits since AEF III receive a share of the activity’s capi­tal gains. After AEF VI, an average of 250 employee share­hol­ders per invest­ment bene­fit from this mecha­nism. Ardian has further expan­ded its expan­sion team with 36 profes­sio­nals in Paris, Frank­furt and Milan, inclu­ding 13 Mana­ging Direc­tors who have worked toge­ther for over 15 years to ensure a strong culture. Their deep connec­tions in local markets and presence in multi­ple loca­ti­ons enable them to support port­fo­lio compa­nies with cross-border oppor­tu­ni­ties, opera­tio­nal growth and new client acqui­si­tion. In 2024, the expan­sion port­fo­lio has again demons­tra­ted average double-digit orga­nic EBITDA growth. The team also has a proven track record of helping mid-market compa­nies scale through stra­te­gic acqui­si­ti­ons, with an average of five build-ups per port­fo­lio company. In addi­tion, the team has been instru­men­tal in sustaina­bi­lity trans­for­ma­ti­ons. By the end of 2024, 95% of port­fo­lio compa­nies have conduc­ted carbon foot­print assess­ments, 55% have imple­men­ted green­house gas emis­sion reduc­tion plans and all AEF VI finan­cings rela­ted to sustaina­bi­lity, inclu­ding CO2 KPIs. 

The fund­rai­sing announce­ment follows the recent closing of Ardian’s first private equity follow-on fund for Syclef, a leading Euro­pean company specia­li­zing in the instal­la­tion and main­ten­ance of refri­ge­ra­tion and air condi­tio­ning systems. Ardian’s expan­sion team first inves­ted in Syclef in 2020, helping it to conso­li­date its market posi­tion, inclu­ding through M&A to expand inter­na­tio­nally, and will now support it in its next phase of growth. “If you launch the fund, the inves­tors will come. Contrary to the chal­len­ging macro context, the rapid growth in fund size is due to the close and trus­ting rela­ti­onships we have built with our inves­tors. The strength of our track record and invest­ment stra­tegy and the opera­tio­nal support we provide in digi­tal, AI, pricing and talent manage­ment is helping our entre­pre­neurs to grow their busi­nesses. Europe still holds great oppor­tu­ni­ties when it comes to direct private bEquity invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties. We have the privi­lege of back­ing some of the many mid-cap compa­nies that have the vision, energy and ability to deve­lop into Euro­pean and inter­na­tio­nal cham­pi­ons. And the demand for our latest fund shows that there is a global demand to play a role in this dream. ” Fran­çois Jerpha­gnon (photo © Ardian), Member of the Execu­tive Commit­tee, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Ardian France and Head of Expan­sion, Ardian.