Performance watch: Ardian’s PE secondaries funds

How are the big firms in market performing? Secondaries Investor will analyse their metrics to find out.

First up is Ardian, which is seeking $12 billion for its eight flagship fund. The firm raised $31.6 billion for secondaries in the five years to 30 June 2017, according to our SI30 list of biggest fundraisers, nearly twice the second-place total. It has launched private equity, early private equity, infrastructure and energy secondaries funds over that period.

The firm has spent some of the raised capital acquiring $750 million of private equity stakes from Alaska Permanent Fund, buying £800 million ($1 billion; €893 million) of stakes from Universities Superannuation Scheme and carrying out the largest-ever stapled deal with Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.

The interactive chart below shows the firm’s private equity fund history, based on its results as of 31 March last year. Toggle between the tabs to see how the funds have fared by internal rate of return and multiple of invested capital. The bubbles are sized proportionately to the size of the fund; hover over them to see fund data.

*The Performance Watch series began on sister site Private Equity International, where profiled firms include Blackstone, Carlyle Group, Apollo Global Management and Vista Equity Partners.