Axa spinout Ardian closes fifth LBO fund on €2.41bn

The GP comfortably exceeded its initial €2bn target.

Ardian had closed its fourth fund, AXA LBO Fund IV, on €1.6bn in 2008, making this latest effort a substantial 50% increase on the previous vehicle. In addition, Ardian stated the fund's dry powder would be complemented by co-investment opportunities of up to €400m.

Insurer Axa completed the sale of its private equity arm to a management-led consortium for €510m earlier this week. The management team and employees, led by long-standing CEO Dominique Sénéquier, will own a 46% stake in the business, with Sénéquier herself holding 10% of the firm. 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. Axa will remain an investor in Ardian's funds and announced it will commit a further €4.8bn between 2014 and 2018.

Investors
Half of the commitments in LBO Fund V came from LPs already invested in previous Ardian funds. The fund saw growing interest from LPs from North America, Asia and the Middle East, Ardian said in a statement.

Investments
Ardian has already made six transactions via the new fund. These included four new deals: the buyout of German speciality pharmaceuticals company Riemser Arzneimittel in August last year; the €850m SBO of French industrial engineering group Fives in July 2012; the €250m SBO of French testing group Trescal; and an investment in Italian orthopaedic prostheses business Lima Corporate last year. The GP also financed two bolt-ons for Fives. Overall, a quarter of the fund has already been deployed.

People
Dominique Gaillard is managing partner and head of direct funds at Ardian.

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• Topics
• Buyout
• Axa Private Equity