A collective v i s i o n o f solidarity 2019 Activity Report Ardian is a world-leading private investment house. We are an employee-controlled company – global in outlook but with our roots in Europe – managing and advising more than $100 billion of assets on behalf of government agencies, pension funds, insurance companies and private clients. We specialize in five areas of activity: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Private Debt and Real Estate. Our mission is to generate sustainable, long-term returns for our clients alongside positive social impact that benefits all our stakeholders and society at large. $100Bn of assets managed or advised 1,060 investors 664 employees 01 Corporate 04. Foreword Dominique Senequier 06. Point of view Supervisory Committee 08. Increasing our resilience and diversity Executive Committee Advocating Sustainability Our investment responsible activities 32. finance The sustainability challenge 52. demands constant innovation We span the private 22. investment market Investor Relations: committed to 34. delivering world-class service A unique view of the fund of 54. funds industry’s ESG evolution to our clients Fund of Funds 24. 36. 58. Building tools to address Mandates: benefiting from Buyout another year of rapid growth climate change 64. 26. 38. SUMMARY Expansion Compliance: safeguarding The Ardian Foundation: our clients, portfolio assets increased resources to fund 70. and Ardian our programs and respond to COVID-19 Growth 27. 76. Legal: ensuring we build Ardian North America Fund on solid foundations 80. 28. Co-Investment Our journey Technology: our digital Trusting talented transformation gathers 86. momentum people, today 12. Infrastructure How a single French LBO fund and tomorrow spawned a global company 92. 42. Private Debt 14. Diversity will strengthen Ardian in numbers our collective intelligence 98. Real Estate 16. 44. Our network spans the world Millennial Executive Committee: Ardian’s younger generation 18. makes its mark Highlights of 2019 46. We offer talented people many routes to success 02 03 Foreword DOMINIQUE SENEQUIER President of Ardian We are living through extraordinary Ardian has a culture of careful, cautious times. Although this document must investment and I am sure this will serve us stand as an account of our work during well in the testing times we all now face. 2019, Ardian’s progress and the The company we have built over the past successes we achieved necessarily give two decades is responsible, resourceful way to more immediate concerns. and resilient. In the months ahead, we will As I write, whole continents are gripped seize every opportunity to demonstrate by the pandemic that began in the final these qualities. days of December 2019. Today, millions of people’s livelihoods, hopes and plans Our immediate priorities have been are frozen while we wait for this shadow to ensure our colleagues and partners to lift. are safe, and to join the fight against this deadly pandemic. The Ardian At moments like these, our responsibilities Foundation has created a dedicated fund, are clearer than ever – to our clients, representing 10% of its annual budget. our employees and the many companies Ardian, alongside its employees, has we support. My greatest pride today provided further funds to support hospital is that Ardian understands those care, health workers and medical CORPORATE responsibilities and has the strength research. At the same time, many of our and determination to fulfil them. portfolio companies are contributing vital products and services to the global “war effort”. Finally, we have decided “At moments like these, that Ardian will not ask for any state support on its own account. Other our responsibilities are companies’ needs are greater than ours. clearer than ever.” Huge numbers of people depend on our portfolio companies and the exceptional entrepreneurs that lead them: employees, customers, suppliers, families, communities and alongside them the millions of savers whose money we invest. I want to reassure all these people that we at Ardian will do everything we can to protect and sustain businesses and jobs through this crisis, just as we did 12 years ago. We will continue to support our companies and to provide vital liquidity to the secondary market, so that institutions can actively manage their private-market portfolios in the best interests of their savers. 04 05 Point of view SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE This has necessarily increased the PATRICK THOMAS pressure on our committee to ensure Chairman that the organization can meet the of the Supervisory growing demands placed upon it. Committee Ardian expanded the risk teams in London and Paris and invested massively in IT, to strengthen its focus on areas we consider critical for the company’s future. In particular, responsibility for its technology From the beginning, our mission as a development has passed to Mathias Supervisory Committee has been to Burghardt, Member of the Executive make sure Ardian has the same level of Committee and Head of Ardian Infrastructure. governance as a major public company. We have devoted much of our time to Our Audit and Risk Committee has anticipating and addressing risks within remained extremely vigilant about Ardian’s organization and processes. With potential cybersecurity threats, both the world now suffering the first pandemic to the very large money transfers that in a century, we are very glad that we did Ardian must necessarily make but also so – this does not guarantee everything, to the highly confidential information of course, but it puts Ardian in a stronger Ardian holds on its clients and investments. position and reminds us daily that we must With our full support, the company never stop trying to improve the way this has invested significantly in IT risk CORPORATE company operates and manages its risks. management by recruiting external specialists in digital security. “Ardian is a strong company, Ardian now has a wealth of talent to draw upon and a robust international thanks to its governance organization, with 15 offices around the world. Its activities in North America and the talented people are well underway and we are proud whom it can call upon.” of the excellent progress the company FROM LEFT TO RIGHT is making in its latest activity, Real Estate. PASCAL CHRISTORY DIDIER DECONINCK PATRICK THOMAS JEAN-MICHEL VERHAEGEN Even with the current challenging The COVID-19 pandemic poses very Vice-President of the Chairman of the OLAF BONOTTO FRANÇOIS MORRISSON circumstances in mind, it is still only right significant challenges to Ardian, Supervisory Committee Supervisory Committee that we assess the past year: 2019. It was its portfolio companies and its wider GIOVANNA TRUCCO a period of extraordinarily rapid change stakeholders. However, even in periods for Ardian. Assets under management or when market conditions were exceptionally advice grew by about 25% in a year and buoyant, Ardian resisted the temptation have now exceeded $100bn, confirming to stray from its cautious and disciplined the company’s position among the largest approach. It still holds to that approach. private market investment houses in the We are therefore confident that Ardian is world. To support this increase, Ardian strong enough to sustain itself and support recruited over 100 new staff members to its stakeholders through to better times. reach a headcount of 664, challenging its teams to help many new colleagues Finally, I wish to welcome a new member to gain an understanding of Ardian’s unique the Supervisory Committee, Mrs. Giovanna corporate culture. Trucco, who joined us during 2019. 06 07 Increasing our resilience and diversity We are investing heavily in technology to increase efficiency and productivity, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE and give our investors a better, more streamlined experience. And we continue to focus relentlessly on attracting and 2019 was an exceptionally strong retaining talented people who share year for our company. our values and culture of service. DOMINIQUE SENEQUIER We closed record funds for Infrastructure, President of Ardian Co-Investment and Private Debt, A central element of our plans to strengthen and completed a series of landmark Ardian is to bring greater diversity, in all transactions in Secondary Fund of Funds its facets, to our company. Last year, and with our Buyout team in Europe and we decided to join the Investor Leadership in the US. Infrastructure continued to forge Network, an organization founded in ahead in North America and signed 2018 after the G7 in Canada to encourage a very large debut deal in Germany, collaboration between leading investors a country in which our Mandates team on issues related to sustainability and also had major wins. Ardian Growth long-term growth. We are supporting the saw the creation of its first $1bn portfolio Investor Leadership Network's (ILN) work company with Ivalua, a world-leading on increasing and measuring diversity. e-procurement platform. We believe that by making Ardian more diverse, we will also make it stronger. MARK BENEDETTI MATHIAS BURGHARDT VLADIMIR COLAS OLIVIER DECANNIÈRE After attracting 173 new investors Co-Head of Ardian US Head of Ardian Infrastructure Co-Head of Ardian US Head of Ardian UK last year, we now have more than We are also working to increase the 1,000 Limited Partners (LPs). And to positive impact of our investments and support them, we have continued we continue to share the profits we generate CORPORATE to hire more people than ever, as on exit with the employees of our portfolio 106 new employees joined in 2019. companies. We are strengthening and expanding our Foundation to help more people turn their aspirations for social “We are investing heavily in mobility into reality. To accelerate this process, we decided during 2019 to donate our technology and focusing a portion of Ardian’s carried interest to the Foundation, which will boost its financial relentlessly on attracting and resources over the next few years.