Ardian raises $14 bln in funds of funds
PARIS, April 19 (Reuters) - French private equity firm Ardian said on Tuesday that it attracted $14 billion of investment in its latest fundraising round, taking total secondary market fundraising to $27.4 billion within the last five years.
The new round involves 180 investors from 26 different countries, and about a quarter of the fund has already been invested through six transactions, Ardian said in a statement.
"We can now say that the secondary market has come of age," Ardian UK head Olivier Decanniere said. "Private equity (LSE: 0QLS.L - news) 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, which manages or advises on the management of $55 billion in assets, was the private equity investing arm of French insurer AXA (Paris: FR0000120628 - news) until it was spun off in 2013 in an employee buyout. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Andrew Callus)