Axa Private Equity spinout goes ahead

As reported by unquote" back in March, Axa Private Equity's management team and employees, led by long-standing CEO Dominique Sénéquier, will own a significant part of the business – although they were initially understood to be acquiring a 40% stake, this has been pushed up to 46%. Sénéquier herself will hold 10% of the firm, which will trade under the name of Ardian going forward.

Meanwhile, Axa will retain 23% of the private equity arm and the remainder of the shares will still be held by a group of institutions and French family offices.

The deal was initially announced in March and tipped to close in Q3. Axa Investment Managers, the Axa subsidiary that currently controls the private equity arm, is expected to receive €488m from the sale.

The consideration will include a deferred consideration of around €150m, to be paid in installments subject to achieving certain targets.

Axa will remain an investor in Axa PE's funds, and announced it will commit a further €4.8bn between 2014 and 2018. Axa PE is set to announce the closing of its new buyout fund with €2.5bn of commitments, the Financial Times reported.

Axa put its private equity arm up for sale in September last year to comply with the upcoming Solvency II requirements. The process went on at a leisurely pace in the following months, with Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC once tipped as likely buyers. The sale process was believed to have been halted for most of 2012 given the fiscal uncertainty prevalent in France following the Q2 elections.

Axa PE was nevertheless on to a particularly busy year in 2012, taking part in more than 20 transactions across Europe, including July's €850m buyout of Fives from Charterhouse in France.

The firm also managed to secure $7.1bn for its secondaries fund-of-funds and $900m for its primary investment fund-of-funds in mid-June. It followed up on this announcement by acquiring a portfolio of 11 private equity fund investments and related unfunded commitments from Omers Private Equity.

Recent months have seen the GP delve further into private debt: it arranged the largest ever European unitranche financing package earlier in March, providing PAI partners with a €220m loan to finance the €460m buyout of IPH.

On the infrastructure side, Axa PE acquired London Luton Airport from TBI, a company owned by CVC-backed Abertis, alongside Spanish airport operator Aena for £394.4m in August this year.

The GP has, however, had to deal with complications in its planned takeover of French holiday resorts operator Club Med. A court of appeal will not rule on minority shareholders' opposition to the €557m deal before March 2014 at the earliest.

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