Ardian opens San Francisco office

Ardian has opened a San Francisco office as it continues to expand globally.

The new office is its second office in North America after New York, which it opened in 1999, and its 12th worldwide, according to a statement from the firm.

Ardian’s North American team is a large contributor to the Paris-based firm’s investment and fundraising activities, thanks to relationships with pension plans, insurance companies, financial institutions, endowments and family offices.

Wilfred Small, who joined Ardian in 2011 and was previously a senior investment manager in the New York office, is leading the San Francisco outpost, under the responsibility of Vladimir Colas and Mark Benedetti, two managing directors in the New York office. Kathy Kang, an analyst with Ardian’s fund of funds who was previously in the New York office, has also moved to San Francisco.

The new office will be staffed by a local team of 10, some of whom will work on the investment side, with others in investor relations. They will monitor the firm’s fund of funds relationships with limited partners and general partners and bring Ardian’s direct, infrastructure and private debt activities closer to West Coast investors.

“We believe it is important to establish an on-the-ground presence given how… active we are in the region,” said Benoît Verbrugghe, member of the executive committee and head of Ardian US.

Ardian opened a Madrid office at the beginning of September and Secondaries Investor reported in June that the firm hired 45 new people throughout the company in 2014, bringing the total headcount to 350.

Ardian is currently raising its seventh dedicated secondaries fund, targeting $9 billion, Secondaries Investor‘s sister publication Private Equity International reported in May.