Ardian (formerly Axa Private Equity) is a France-based, independent private equity investment company, founded and managed by Dominique Senequier. It is one of the largest European-headquartered private equity funds.[1] The company was originally set up by Dominique Senequier in 1996 as the AXA Group's private equity division, but later gained independence in 2013, and rebranded itself as Ardian.[2] The name Ardian (ar・di・an) was inspired by an ancient European language in which 'hardjan' mean strength, durability, and boldness.[3] Ardian manages assets worth US$150 billion in Europe, North America and Asia,[4] and has fifteen offices (Paris, London, Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, Zurich, New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo, Jersey, Luxembourg, Santiago, and Seoul).[5] The firm offers a funds of funds, direct funds, infrastructure, private debt and real estate,[6] and manages a direct portfolio of more than 150 companies. Its fund of funds segments owns stakes in over 1500 funds. Ardian's 880 investors include institutional investors, funds of funds, government agencies, sovereign funds, family offices, pension funds and insurance companies).[7][8] The firm has been ranked one of the largest companies by amount raised in equity by Private Equity International,[9] and was named "Company of the Year" 2013 by the readers of Private Equity International.[10]
Originally part of Axa Investment Managers, the investment arm of Axa, the company operated under the name AXA Private Equity until 2013, when the firm achieved independent status and was renamed to Ardian.[11]
In 1996, Claude Bébéar, founder and former Axa CEO, tasked Dominique Senequier with the creation of a private equity entity at Axa. Based in Paris, Axa Private Equity started off with ten clients and €100 million worth of assets.[12] The first investment took place in 1998 in the GSI Banque company Linedata.[13]
In 1999, the company opened offices in London and New York. That same year, it launched its funds of funds investment strategy.[14]
In 2001, it entered the German market by opening an office in Frankfurt.[15]
In 2005, it opened an office in Singapore and entered the Asian market.[16] The same year, it launched its Infrastructure investment strategy.
As a result of the 2007 financial crisis, the company postponed all new operations and instead focused on the management of its portfolio, in an effort to shield 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.[17][18]
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.[19][20]
The same year it adopted the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) implemented by the UNPRI and published its CSR Charter.[21]
In 2012, the company opened an office in Beijing to invest in the Chinese market.[24]
When Axa Private Equity was put up for sale in 2011, Senequier led a management buyout to acquire it from the parent company Axa. Axa retained a 23 percent stake, while Senequier, Gombault, Gaillard and the French luxury group Hermès all bought stakes of about 10 percent. The business was renamed Ardian, from the old world hardjan, meaning durability and strength.[25]
In 2013, Axa Private Equity announced that it had completed its spin-off from the Axa Group and finished the renaiming of the firm to 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. In 2013, 85% of employees were shareholders.[26] In 2013, Private Equity International ranked Ardian in the largest private equity firms by PE capital raised[27] and named it Company of the Year 2013 in France.[28]
In 2015, the firm opened an office in Madrid, Spain.[29] On 7 September 2015, it announced the launch of Ardian Real Estate, dedicated to investment in non-residential properties in Europe.[30] On 7 October 2015, it opened an office in San Francisco, USA,[31] In 2016, Ardian celebrated the company's 20th anniversary with a major expansion plan, targeting North America for their next phase of growth. In the following three years, they launched North American Buyout and Infrastructure funds, expanded in Asia with offices in Tokyo and Seoul, and opened their first South American office in Santiago.[32] In 2017, Ardian opened an office in Tokyo, Japan.[33]
In 2020, Ardian bought PRGX. In 2020, founding investor Gombault left the company.[25] In 2022 Ardian bought Míla, Iceland’s largest telecom infrastructure company.[34]
In 2023 Ardian opened office in Abu Dhabi, UAE, giving it 16 country offices worldwide. In 2023, Ardian's 1050 staff were responsible for $150bn of assets, confirming its place among an elite global group of private investment houses.[32] In November 2023, the company acquired a 15% stake in Heathrow Airport Holdings from Ferrovial.[35] In March 2024, it was announced Ardian had completed the acquisition of Digital 9 Infrastructure's entire stake in the UK-based data centre platform, Verne Global in a deal worth up to £450 million.[36]
Activities
The company operates on five business segments:[37]
Funds of funds, which manages approximately $69 billion of assets[38] focusing on primary, early secondary and secondary Funds of Funds.
Direct funds, which manages approximately $28 billion.
Infrastructure, which manages approximately $21 billion.
Private debt, which manages approximately $10 billion.
Real estate, launched September 2015, manages approximately $2 billion.
Governance and management
Ardian was founded and is managed by Dominique Senequier, who was one of the first seven women admitted to the French Ecole Polytechnique in France in 1972.[39]
An institutional investor is an entity that pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked companies, insurers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, charities, hedge funds, real estate investment trusts, investment advisors, endowments, and mutual funds. Operating companies which invest excess capital in these types of assets may also be included in the term. Activist institutional investors may also influence corporate governance by exercising voting rights in their investments. In 2019, the world's top 500 asset managers collectively managed $104.4 trillion in Assets under Management (AuM).
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is an institutional investor that manages several public and parapublic pension plans and insurance programs in the Canadian province of Quebec. It was established in 1965 by an act of the National Assembly, under the government of Jean Lesage, as part of the Quiet Revolution, a period of social and political change in Quebec. It is the second-largest pension fund in Canada, after the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. It was created to manage the funds of the newly created Quebec Pension Plan, a public pension plan that aimed to provide financial security for Quebecers in retirement. The CDPQ’s mandate was to invest the funds prudently and profitably while also contributing to Quebec’s economic development. As of December 31, 2023, the CDPQ managed assets of C$434 billion, invested in Canada and elsewhere. The CDPQ is headquartered in Quebec City at the Price building and has its main business office in Montreal at the Édifice Jacques-Parizeau.
Permira is a British global investment firm specialised in buyouts, growth funds, equity funds, and credit funds. Founded in 1985 as part of Schroders, it became independent in 1996. Operating as Permira since 2001, the company became one of the largest buyout specialists. As of 2024, Permira advises funds with total committed capital of €80 billion, which have invested in more than 300 companies worldwide. The company employs over 470 people in 15 offices across Europe, North America and Asia.
In finance, the private-equity secondary market refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private-equity and other alternative investment funds. Given the absence of established trading markets for these interests, the transfer of interests in private-equity funds as well as hedge funds can be more complex and labor-intensive.
An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding capital stocks, bonds, and cash.
A private equity firm or private equity company is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or an existing operating company to make a profit on its investments. This is done by the private equity firm raising funds to invest in private companies that have not been publicly listed.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, operating as CPP Investments, is a Canadian Crown corporation established by way of the 1997 Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act to oversee and invest the funds contributed to and held by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).
Coller Capital is one of the largest global investors in the private equity secondary market ("secondaries"). It was founded in 1990 by the UK-based investor and philanthropist Jeremy Coller.
Lexington Partners is one of the largest manager of secondary acquisition and co-Investment funds in the world, founded in 1994. Lexington manages approximately $55 billion of which an unprecedented $14 billion was committed to the firm's ninth fund, the largest dedicated secondaries pool of capital ever raised at the time.
AlpInvest Partners is a global private equity asset manager with over $85 billion of committed capital since inception as of December 31, 2022. The firm invests on behalf of more than 450 institutional investors from North America, Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.
H.I.G. Capital, LLC is a global alternative investment firm with $65 billion of capital under management. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to middle market companies.
Actis LLP is a global investment firm focused on the private equity, energy, infrastructure, and real estate asset classes.
HarbourVest Partners is a private equity fund of funds and one of the largest private equity investment managers globally. The firm invests in all types of private equity funds, including venture capital and leveraged buyout funds, and also directly in operating companies.
Partners Group Holding AG is a Swiss-based global private equity firm with US$149 billion in assets under management in private equity, infrastructure, real estate, private credit and royalties.
Amundi is a French asset management company. With €2 trillion of assets under management (AUM) at the end of 2021, it is the largest asset manager in Europe and one of the 10 biggest investment managers in the world.
GCM Grosvenor is an American alternative asset management firm, with approximately $76 billion in assets under management and approximately 530 professionals as of 2023.
Dominique Senequier is a French businesswoman. She is president of Ardian, a private equity firm she founded in 1996.
Fondi Italiani per le Infrastrutture SGR S.p.A. or, in short form, F2i SGR S.p.A., is Italy's largest independent infrastructure fund manager, with assets under management of approximately €7 billion. It currently manages five funds and one infrastructure Debt Fund.
American Capital, Ltd. was a publicly traded private equity and global asset management firm, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol "ACAS" from 1997 to 2017 and a component of the S&P 500 Index from 2007 to 2009. American Capital was sold to Ares Management in 2017 at a sale price that totaled $4.1 billion. For those investors who bought American Capital stock in its August 29, 1997 IPO, and held their shares through the sale of American Capital on January 3, 2017, they received a 14% compounded annual return including dividends.
Axa Investment Managers is a global investment management firm. It operates as the investment arm for Axa, a global insurance and reinsurance company.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
