Ardian raises $3.2 billion for sixth-generation Co-Investment platform

Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, today announces it has raised $3.2 billion for the sixth generation of its global Co-Investment platform, Ardian Co-Investment Fund VI, including Fund commitments and mandates from Ardian Customized Solutions. 

This represents a 23% increase on funds raised by Ardian’s fifth generation Co-Investment Fund, Ardian Co-Investment Fund V, in 2019.

The new Fund attracted 188 investors globally, including from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia. Investors in the Fund comprise pensions funds, HNWIs, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds, with Ardian’s Co-Investment strategy continuing to see strong growth amongst HNWIs in this latest generation. 

Fund VI builds on the success of Ardian’s established Co-Investment strategy, offering access to minority investments in companies alongside top-tier private equity sponsors. These GPs rely on Ardian’s scale, expertise, local presence, and the team's dedication to partnering with them, as demonstrated by GPs offering Ardian to co-underwrite most transactions. Fund VI investments are diversified across strategies, industries, company size, GPs, and geographies – including North America, Europe, and Asia. The team will continue to leverage Ardian’s market-leading Secondaries and Primaries platform, one of the largest in the world with deep roots in North America, and access to a global network of 600+ GPs, to drive its unique approach to deal sourcing. 

The Fund is already around 40% invested through 18 transactions. These include investments in Potter Global Technologies, a leading manufacturer of fire and life safety equipment in the US, alongside KKR, as well as Schwind, a leading provider of eye laser systems, alongside Adagia Partners.  

“This successful close for our sixth-generation platform is testament to both Ardian’s strong track record in delivering returns from co-investment and the attractiveness of the asset class for delivering stable returns, particularly against a more challenging macroeconomic backdrop. Investors are drawn to the diversification and cost advantages of our strategy, offering exposure to a well-balanced portfolio alongside some of the best GPs in the world. As the co-investment market continues to grow, it is not surprising that we have seen strong interest in this latest Fund from both institutional investors and HNWIs looking to capitalize on the diversification that co-investment provides.” Alexandre Motte, Co-Head of Co-Investment and Senior Managing Director, Ardian

“As the private markets mature and deal sizes grow, GPs increasingly turn to professional co-investors to provide equity in their deals, no matter the geography. That certainly applies to North America where, with the support of Ardian’s leading Secondaries and Primaries platform, our co-investment strategy has a proven track record of identifying top-quartile deals from US and Canadian GPs. This exceptional deal pipeline allows us to select high-quality assets and GPs, generating robust and stable returns for our limited partners. A growing number of compelling deals have come to market since our previous fund generation, and we expect these opportunities to not only increase in Europe but also in North America.” Patrick Kocsi, Co-Head of Co-Investment and Senior Managing Director, Ardian