Ardian launches infrastructure fund for wealthy private investors

Frank­furt a. M. — Ardian announ­ced the launch of Ardian Access Infra­struc­ture SICAV-RAIF[ii] (“Ardian Access” or “the Fund”), a Luxem­bourg domic­i­led ever­green vehicle[iii]. The Fund will be available exclu­si­vely to profes­sio­nal inves­tors world­wide. Ardian Access Infra­struc­ture is part of the Ardian Access plat­form, which offers insti­tu­tio­nal and private inves­tors a wide range of access to Ardian deal flow. Ardian is one of the worl­d’s leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment firms with $196 billion in assets under manage­ment and super­vi­sion across private equity, real assets and private credit. 

Ardian Access Infra­struc­ture is a diffe­ren­tia­ted solu­tion for inves­tors seeking access to private infra­struc­ture invest­ments to diver­sify their exis­ting port­fo­lio. It includes both direct infra­struc­ture invest­ments and Ardian’s infra­struc­ture secon­dary market plat­forms. Ardian’s infra­struc­ture team has more than USD 45 billion of assets under manage­ment and a track record of over 20 years. The secon­da­ries team has $101 billion of assets under manage­ment, making it one of the largest secon­dary infra­struc­ture plat­forms in the market. 

This unique combi­na­tion of direct invest­ments in essen­tial infra­struc­ture and secon­dary tran­sac­tions is desi­gned to give inves­tors access to prime assets that offer recur­ring income, poten­tial infla­tion protec­tion and robust returns, as well as port­fo­lio tran­sac­tions that provide grea­ter diver­si­fi­ca­tion and typi­cally help to reduce J‑curve effects. This also means that inves­tors gain access to strong deal flow, which should be scalable, well diver­si­fied and of high quality. 

Ardian Access Infra­struc­ture enables inves­tors to:

Access to Ardian’s infra­struc­ture stra­tegy, which focu­ses on essen­tial, capi­­tal-inten­­sive compa­nies in the energy, digi­tal infra­struc­ture and trans­por­ta­tion sectors. The team has more than 70 dedi­ca­ted invest­ment profes­sio­nals across eight offices in Europe and the Ameri­cas. Ardian Access Infra­struc­ture seeks a global allo­ca­tion along­side all Ardian infra­struc­ture funds, inclu­ding the recently successfully closed $20 billion plat­form, which will invest predo­mi­nantly in Europe. 

High diver­si­fi­ca­tion via the Ardian Infra­struc­ture Secon­da­ries plat­form as part of the worl­d’s largest secon­dary market plat­form with $101 billion in assets under manage­ment, supported by a team of more than 100 invest­ment profes­sio­nals across 14 offices with 35 infra­struc­ture specia­lists. This plat­form provi­des access to some of the worl­d’s leading asset mana­gers and has a high-quality pipe­line of co-inves­t­­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties in infra­struc­ture. Secon­dary invest­ments are also desi­gned to gene­rate strong cash flow and mini­mize J‑curve effects to support scala­bi­lity. Mini­mum invest­ment amounts of EUR 100,000 and a full invest­ment of the capi­tal from day one. This is inten­ded to maxi­mize the compound inte­rest effect and avoid yield losses through stag­ge­red capi­tal calls and a corre­spon­din­gly high cash ratio (the so-called “cash drag”). 

Ardian Access Infra­struc­ture is desi­gned to diver­sify across diffe­rent sectors and regi­ons. The aim is to build a stake in more than 20 under­ly­ing infra­struc­ture compa­nies in a short period of time. These include Heath­row Airport, the largest airport in Europe, and Verne, an opera­tor of sustainable data centers. 

Ardian coope­ra­tes with iCapital

Ardian has laun­ched the current fund in part­ner­ship with iCapi­tal, a global fintech plat­form dedi­ca­ted to shaping the future of inves­t­ing. Ardian will leverage the full range of iCapi­tal’s ever­green fund service and tech­no­logy solu­ti­ons to provide asset mana­gers and their clients with effi­ci­ent access to alter­na­tive invest­ments through Ardian Access. 

“We are seeing a growing demand among high net worth private inves­tors not just for private equity, but for access to the entire invest­ment spec­trum in the private markets, parti­cu­larly in infra­struc­ture. Ardian Access Infra­struc­ture offers these clients a unique oppor­tu­nity to take advan­tage of both direct invest­ments and secon­da­ries tran­sac­tions in infra­struc­ture. The fund combi­nes the value and return gene­ra­tion over the full invest­ment cycle of direct invest­ments with the diver­si­fi­ca­tion and flat­ter J‑curve trajec­tory offe­red by secon­da­ries. Start­ing from a high-quality, diver­si­fied seed port­fo­lio of assets, our teams will invest in key global trends such as digi­ta­liza­tion, energy tran­si­tion and govern­ment infra­struc­ture invest­ment programs,” explains Erwan Paugam, Head of Private Wealth Solu­ti­ons and Senior Mana­ging Direc­tor at Ardian.

“As one of the market leaders, we know the bene­fits that infra­struc­ture as an asset class offers inves­tors: regu­lar distri­bu­ti­ons, infla­tion protec­tion, lower cycli­cal­ity and lower corre­la­tion and vola­ti­lity compared to other asset clas­ses histo­ri­cally. We ther­e­fore believe that it is an attrac­tive addi­tion to inves­tor port­fo­lios.” Says Daniel von der Schu­len­burg (photo: Ardian), Head of Infra­struc­ture Germany, Bene­lux & Nort­hern Europe and Senior Mana­ging Direc­tor at Ardian.

“Our infra­struc­ture secon­dary plat­form combi­nes access to invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties world­wide with exper­tise in local markets. We are deligh­ted that with this new ever­green vehicle we can offer an even grea­ter number of inves­tors the oppor­tu­nity to bene­fit from one of the worl­d’s largest secon­dary plat­forms, backed by an inter­na­tio­nal team of over 100 invest­ment profes­sio­nals in 14 loca­ti­ons,” says Marie Victoire Roze, Deputy Co-Head Secon­da­ries & Prima­ries and Senior Mana­ging Direc­tor at Ardian.

About ARDIAN

In a constantly chan­ging world, Ardian stands for the exper­tise to anti­ci­pate and accept chal­lenges and turn them into oppor­tu­ni­ties. With 22 offices world­wide and more than 350 invest­ment profes­sio­nals, Ardian offers globally diver­si­fied invest­ment products and custo­mi­zed invest­ment manda­tes in the private markets. Ardian trans­la­tes econo­mic trends into invest­ment solu­ti­ons that have a stabi­li­zing effect on its clients’ port­fo­lios even in turbu­lent market phases. 

With multi-local exper­tise and long-term orien­ted value crea­tion, Ardian not only gene­ra­tes a sustainable return for its inves­tors and part­ners, but also makes a contri­bu­tion to society as a whole. Since its foun­da­tion in 1996, the company has stood for an invest­ment stra­tegy that is charac­te­ri­zed by a high degree of diver­si­fi­ca­tion, indi­vi­dua­lity and scala­bi­lity. Ardian crea­tes lasting value for its port­fo­lio compa­nies through commit­ment, exper­tise and the use of tech­no­logy, ther­eby contri­bu­ting to over­all econo­mic development. 

Ardian curr­ently mana­ges or advi­ses USD 192 billion in assets for more than 1,890 inves­tors world­wide in the private equity, real assets and private credit asset clas­ses. — ardian.com