Ardian’s 2015 activity

The firm has found its sweet spot in the secondaries market, focusing on large complex portfolios of fund stakes. Here’s a look at key figures for the fund of funds' 2015 activity.

Ardian completed 11 secondaries transactions totalling $6.2 billion last year, according to the firm’s annual report released this week.

The firm also completed four early secondaries transactions.

“We invested very actively and although the majority of our transactions came in the second half of the year, we still completed more than $6 billion of transactions,” Vincent Gombault, head of Ardian fund of funds and private debt said in the report.

Secondaries Investor reported at the beginning of last year that the firm completed 10 deals totalling $10.8 billion in 2014.

Ardian, which raised its seventh secondaries platform last year, Ardian Secondary Fund VII, with $14 billion, believes the overall market last year was between $30 billion and $40 billion.

It anticipates that the secondaries market in private equity is poised for additional growth and that it will take years for it to reach its full potential, Ardian noted in its report. “Even if turnover expanded tenfold, it would still represent a relatively small percentage of the asset class overall – but there can be no doubt about the direction it is heading,” the firm said.

The firm increased its assets under management by more than 37 percent to $27 billion in 2015 from $19.6 billion in 2014, according to the report.

Here are secondaries transactions Ardian completed in 2015:

Seller Transaction Deal size Closing date
US pension fund 17 LP interest $1.8bn March
Australian financial institution 3 LP interests and 7 direct assets $329m April
Several limited partners Tender offer for LP interests $87m September
European fund of funds 23 LP interests and 2 direct co-investment assets €83m September
Sovereign wealth fund 12 LP interests $1.4bn September
US financial institution 80 direct assets $570m September
Several limited partners Tender offer for LP interests $253m November
US family office 2 LP interests $36m December
UK family office 16 LP interests $259m December
US financial institution 45 LP interests $310m December
Universities Superannuation Scheme 12 LP interests $940m December

Source: Ardian.