SINGAPORE (June 2): Private investment house Ardian announced that it has raised US$19 billion (S$26.75 billion) from global investors for greater liquidity for its eighth-generation secondaries platform on Tuesday.
The sum signals the continuing maturity of the market, that has become an important source of liquidity for investors, as they look to rebalance their private equity portfolios and seek yield opportunities for savers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The programme, which includes US$5 billion of co-investment interests, exceeds the US$14 billion raised for Ardian’s seventh-generation platform in 2016.
Ardian’s Fund of Funds platform, which covers both primary and secondary fund of funds, now has US$53 billion in assets under management. The platform is exposed to over 10,000 portfolio companies through 1,600 underlying funds.
“In the current environment, the secondaries market has a crucial role to play in providing institutional investors with liquidity. It is a vital tool for pension funds and investors in how they allocate investments in private equity,” says Vincent Gombault, a member of Ardian’s executive committee and head of Ardian’s Fund of Funds.
“While this is another significant milestone in the growth of our Fund of Funds platform, more important is how it highlights the continued development of the secondaries market. It is now a mature market which will only grow in importance for private equity investors in the years to come,” he adds.
“In recent years, we have seen increasing demand from Asian investors wanting exposure and access to the secondaries market. A significant portion of the US$19 billion committed to our latest platform comes from investors in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and South Korea,” says Won Ha, head of Ardian Singapore and Korea.
“At the same time, we also see more Asian sellers of private equity assets who are looking to access secondary private equity funds as they re-balance their portfolios and deploy capital to pursue new opportunities,” he adds.