Strengths of a pan-European private equity platform for small cap investments

Ardian (form­erly AXA Private Equity) recently announ­ced the closing of its Expan­sion III fund with €500 million in commit­ments. The fund invests between 20 and 50 million in equity capi­tal in high-growth compa­nies with high inter­na­tio­na­liza­tion poten­tial. In doing so, the Expan­sion Fund III team can bene­fit from Ardian’s inte­gra­ted, inter­na­tio­nal plat­form and bring its local presence and networks to bear on the growth stra­te­gies of its port­fo­lio compa­nies. What are the compe­ti­tive advan­ta­ges of such embed­ding in the small cap segment, which is mostly domi­na­ted by local private equity inves­tors, and how have the strengths of the pan-Euro­­pean plat­form impac­ted the current fund­rai­sing success?