Ardian opens office in South Korea

Ardian is the largest private investment house in Europe with assets of US$82bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Ardian’s South Korean presence forms an important part of its international strategy, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. The office will be used as a hub for Ardian to serve its growing base of leading, domestic Korean institutional investors including pension funds as well as increase private equity investment in Korean companies, particularly through its funds of funds and co-investment pillars, real estate and services for investors.  

The office will be led by Won Ha, a Director at Ardian. Mr Ha has been with Ardian since 2011, working across the funds of funds and investor relations activities out of the Singapore office. 

Dominique Senequier, President of Ardian, said: “The opening of this office is an important part of our global strategy to meet the evolving needs of our investors as well as representing Ardian’s strong commitment to Asia. With this office, we can now be even closer to our growing local investor base while also capitalizing on the best investment opportunities.”

Jan Philipp Schmitz, Member of the Executive Committee of Ardian and Head of Asia, added: “Our investor base in Asia continues to expand, and it is a market which we see as a major growth opportunity for Ardian. We already have a dozen Korean clients accounting for more than $1.4 billion assets under management.”

Ardian now counts pension funds, insurance companies and family offices across its LP base in Asia, which comprises 750 investors in a number of different asset classes, including Secondary, Buyout, Infrastructure, and Private Debt. 

Meanwhile, Ardian now has 122 investments across Asia representing $3.5 billion in capital of which various fund and direct investments are also held in South Korea.