Ardian (company)

ARDIAN

Type	Privately held company
Industry	Private equity
Predecessor	AXA Private Equity
Founded	Paris, France (1996 (1996)) -->
Founder	Dominique Senequier
Headquarters	Paris, France
Number of locations	Beijing, Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Milan, New York, Paris, Singapore, Zurich
Area served	Europe, North America, Asia
Key people	Dominique Senequier, Vincent Gombault, Dominique Gaillard, Benoît Verbrugghe
Products	Funds of funds, direct funds, private debt and infrastructure
Total assets	US$50bn
Number of employees	340
Website	www.ardian-investment.com

Ardian, formerly AXA Private Equity, is an independent private equity investment company.^[1] It has assets of US $50 billion managed or advised in Europe, North America and Asia.^[2]

The company operates on four business segments: Funds of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure and Private Debt. Ardian raises money from about 346 investors from various domains (institutional investors, Funds of Funds, government agencies, sovereign funds, family offices, pension funds and insurance companies).^[3]

Included in its portfolio are Vinci Park, London Luton Airport and SPIE.

History

Originally a subsidiary of AXA, the company operated under the name AXA Private Equity. It wasn't until 2013, when the firm moved to an independent status, that it changed its name to Ardian.

In 1996, Claude Bébéar, founder and former AXA CEO, asked Dominique Senequier to create a private equity entity at AXA. Based in Paris, AXA Private Equity began with 10 clients and 100 million euros of assets.^[4] The first investment took place in 1998 in the GSI Banque company Linedata.

In 1999, the company went international, opening offices in London and New York. The same year, it launched the Funds of Funds investment strategy.^[5]

In 2001, the company opened an office in Frankfurt^[6] and grew on the German market.

In 2005, the company opened an office in Singapore and became involved in the Asian market.^[7] The same year, AXA Private Equity launched its Infrastructure investment strategy.

Due to the financial crisis in 2007, the company postponed all new operations and focused on the management of its portfolio, in an effort to protect its companies from the effects of the crisis.

In 2008, Dominique Senequier insisted on distributing a higher percentage of the company's capital gains to the employees of the companies in Ardian's portfolio.^[8]^[9]

In 2009, Ardian acquired 100% of Kallista, a French company specialized in the production of renewable energies. Ardian then invested heavily in transports, energy, water supply and waste management. €2.5 billion were invested in infrastructure systems between 2005 and 2014.^[10]^[11]

In 2010, during the increased activity in the private equity secondary market, Ardian acquired a US $1.9 billion private equity portfolio from Bank of America^[12] and a US $ 900 million portfolio from Natixis.^[13]

In 2012, the company opened an office in Beijing in order to invest on the Chinese market.^[14]

On 30 September 2013, AXA Private Equity announced that it had completed its spin-off from the AXA Group and renamed the firm Ardian. Per the terms of the deal, AXA Group retained ownership of 23% of the firm, management and employees owned 46%, and the remaining 31% was held by French family offices and institutions. Currently, 85% of employees are shareholders.^[15]

In 2013, Private Equity International ranked Ardian in the largest private equity firms by PE capital raised^[16] and named it Company of the Year 2013 in France.^[17]

Activities

The company operates on four business segments:^[18]

• Funds of funds, which manages approximately $30 billion of assets^[19] focusing on primary, early secondary and secondary Funds of Funds.

• Direct funds, which manages approximately $11 billion.

• Infrastructure, which manages approximately $5 billion.

• Private debt, which manages approximately $4 billion.

Funds of funds

The fund of funds business segment at Ardian was launched in 1998 and has now $30 billion of assets under management.^[19]

Funds of Funds include primaries, early secondaries and secondaries. Ardian has completed an important range of transactions in these fields, including the purchase of fund portfolios from Bank of America^[20] and GE Capital.^[21]

Between 2012 and 2014, Ardian deployed $7 billion into Fund of Funds transactions.^[22]

Direct funds

The direct funds segment at Ardian manages approximately $11 billion of assets.^[18] It is organized into four activities:

• Mid Cap Buyout (which invests in companies with values ranging from €150 million to €1.5 billion).

• Expansion (which invests in companies valued at less than €150 million).

• Co-Investment (an activity than began in 2005, when large buyout transactions require a strategic partnership).

• Ardian Croissance (which focuses on small and medium businesses — from €2 million to €10 million — that can achieve organic growth and have the potential to expand internationally).

Infrastructure

The infrastructure segment at Ardian manages approximately $5 billion of assets. It includes investments in water, gas and electricity grids, toll roads and renewable energies.^[18]

Ardian's third infrastructure fund closed at €1.75 billion including co-investments and is 45% committed,^[23] including the acquisition of the London Luton Airport,^[24] which is the fourth-largest airport serving the London area, and Vinci Park which specializes in construction, financing and operation of car parks in 14 countries around the world.

Private debt

The private debt segment, launched in 2005, at Ardian manages approximately $4 billion of assets.^[18] Ardian has completed 8 unitranche lending deals that range from €40 million to €275 million.

In 2014, the private debt team provided €255 subordinated financing for Ceva Santé Animale^[25] a £40 million unitranche financing facility to EAT.

Governance and management

Ardian was founded and is led by Dominique Senequier, who was one of the first seven women admitted to the French Ecole Polytechnique in France in 1972.^[26]

The management team also includes:

• Vincent Gombault, head of Ardian’s Funds of Funds and Private Debt ^[27]

• Dominique Gaillard, head of Ardian's Direct Funds^[28]

• Benoît Verbrugghe, head of Ardian USA^[29]

Key figures

• $50 billion of assets (managed or advised)^[2]

• 130 companies in the direct funds portfolio^[30]

• 340 employees

• 10 offices (Northern America, Europe and Asia)

• $9.3 billion raised in 2013

• 85% of the employees are shareholders and hold, together, 52% of the company's capital.

Significant Transactions Completed by Ardian

Direct Funds, Infrastructure and Private Debt

In 2014, Ardian has more than 130 companies in its current direct portfolio through its different activities.

Year	Company Name	Activity involved in the transaction	Country	Ref.
2014	Schleich	Mid Cap Buyout	Germany	^[31]
2014	Vinci Park	Infrastructure	France	^[32]
2013	The Flexitallic Group	Private Debt	US	^[33]
2013	London Luton Airport	Infrastructure	UK	^[34]
2012	Bulkypix	Ardian Croissance	France	^[35]
2012	Frostkrone	Expansion	Germany	^[36]
2012	Ceva	Private Debt	France	^[37]
2011	SPIE	Co-Investment	France	^[38]
2011	Odiego	Mid Cap Buyout	Spain	^[39]
2010	Bravofly	Ardian Croissance	Switzerland	^[40]
2007	Diana Ingredients	Mid Cap Buyout	France	^[41]
2007	Spotless Group	Mid Cap Buyout	France	^[42]
2006	Keolis	Co-Investment	France	^[43]
2005	Camaïeu	Mid Cap Buyout	France	^[44]
2000	SeLoger.com	Ardian Croissance	France	^[45]

Funds of Funds

In 2014, Ardian Funds of Funds' portfolio has about 900 funds with 10,000 underlying companies.^[46]

Year	Seller	Type of assets	Size of transaction ($m)	Ref.
2014	GE Capital	Secondaries	1,300	^[47]
2012	OMERS	Secondaries	850	^[48]
2011	Citi	Secondaries	1,700	^[49]
2010	Bank of America	Secondaries	1,900	^[12]