Ardian has closed its Ardian Secondary Fund VII at $10.8 billion, attracting investment from global institutional investors, said a spokeswoman.
The latest round of fundraising includes allocations from 180 institutional investors from 26 countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America. Around 25% of the fund has already been invested via six transactions, the news release said.
“Our scale means that we are able to partner with a broad spectrum of institutions and investors on secondary deals — from banks seeking liquidity in response to increased capital requirements to pension funds looking to rebalance private equity holdings,” said Benoit Verbrugghe, member of the executive committee and head of Ardian U.S.
Olivier Decanniere, member of the executive committee and head of Ardian U.K., added that the secondary market has “come of age. Private equity has historically been a non-liquid asset class. Our latest fundraise confirms the emergence of a liquid secondary market, which has the potential to transform the character of this asset class.”
Ardian was has $55 billion in assets under management or advice and advisement.
Institutional investors in Ardian Secondary Fund VII and/or its co-investment funds include the $175 billion Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee; $86.4 billion Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, Columbus; and $26 billion Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg.
