Ardian’s Gaillard to step aside from exec committee – exclusive

Ardian managing partner Dominique Gaillard is to step aside from the executive committee as four fresh faces come on board.

Gaillard, who has been with the Paris-headquartered investment firm since 1997, will continue as head of direct funds, remain an executive director and keep his place on the firm’s investment committee, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The appointments to the executive board are co-heads of Ardian US Mark Benedetti and Vladimir Colas, head of Ardian buyout Italy Nicolò Saidelli, and co-head of Ardian Germany and head of Asia Jan Philipp Schmitz, all of whom have been with the firm for at least 10 years.

It is understood the executive committee is being enlarged partly in line with the growth of the company but also to give voice to the firm’s emerging executives.

Gaillard was part of the executive manage team that helped Ardian, then AXA Private Equity, spin out from AXA Group in 2013, alongside founder Dominique Senequier, Vincent Gombault and Benoît Verbrugghe.

When asked by Secondaries Investor at the International Private Equity Market in Cannes on Thursday whether the firm had any plans to go public, Gaillard said: “No”.

The firm has $66 billion in assets under management across primary funds, primary and secondaries funds of funds, infrastructure, real estate and private debt, according to its website.

Ardian declined to comment.

– Adam Le contributed to this report.