Ardian Attracts About $10bn So Far for New Secondary Fund

Multistrategy asset manager Ardian has corralled roughly $10bn of investor interest so far for its latest vehicle to buy secondhand stakes in private-equity funds and plans a first close for the pool in early October, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Paris-based firm has a target of $15bn for its Ardian Secondaries Fund IX and the final tally could be higher, the people said. The total amassed by the campaign includes significant co-investment capital to be invested alongside the Ardian fund.

Ardian Secondaries is the world’s largest Fund of Funds platform. The successful fundraise follows a record year for Ardian’s Secondaries team in 2021, closing 27 transactions which represent $17 billion in deal volume. The average deal size for the top 10 transactions was $1 billion.

Over the past 12 months, Ardian’s Secondaries business increased its AUM by $8 billion to $63 billion. The team’s headcount also grew by 22% in 2021, now comprising more than 110 investment professionals.

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Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$125 billion managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees.

It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base. Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.

Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 800 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul).

It manages funds on behalf of more than 1,200 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Secondaries, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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