A collective vision of solidarity...solidarity 2019 Activity Report 01 Ardian is a world-leading private investment house. We are an employee-controlled company – global in outlook

A c o l l e c t i v e v i s i o n o f s o l i d a r i t y2019 Act ivit y Report

01

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.

1,060 investors

$100Bn of assets managed

or advised

employees

664

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Sustainability

32. The sustainability challenge demands constant innovation

34.A unique view of the fund of funds industry’s ESG evolution

36. Building tools to address climate change

38. The Ardian Foundation: increased resources to fund our programs and respond to COVID-19

Our investment activities

52.We span the private investment market

54. Fund of Funds

58. Buyout

64. Expansion

70. Growth

76. Ardian North America Fund

80.Co-Investment

86.Infrastructure

92.Private Debt

98.Real Estate

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Our journey

12. How a single French LBO fund spawned a global company

14. Ardian in numbers

16. Our network spans the world

18. Highlights of 2019

Corporate

04. Foreword Dominique Senequier

06. Point of view Supervisory Committee

08. Increasing our resilience and diversityExecutive Committee

Trusting talented people, today and tomorrow

42. Diversity will strengthen our collective intelligence

44.Millennial Executive Committee: Ardian’s younger generation makes its mark

46. We offer talented people many routes to success

Advocating responsible finance

22. Investor Relations: committed to delivering world-class service to our clients

24.Mandates: benefiting from another year of rapid growth

26. Compliance: safeguarding our clients, portfolio assets and Ardian

27. Legal: ensuring we build on solid foundations

28. Technology: our digital transformation gathers momentum

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We are living through extraordinary times. Although this document must stand as an account of our work during 2019, Ardian’s progress and the successes we achieved necessarily give way to more immediate concerns. As I write, whole continents are gripped by the pandemic that began in the final days of December 2019. Today, millions of people’s livelihoods, hopes and plans are frozen while we wait for this shadow to lif t.

At moments like these, our responsibilities are clearer than ever – to our clients, our employees and the many companies we support. My greatest pride today is that Ardian understands those responsibilities and has the strength and determination to fulfil them.

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.

Ardian has a culture of careful, cautious investment and I am sure this will serve us well in the testing times we all now face. The company we have built over the past two decades is responsible, resourceful and resilient. In the months ahead, we will seize every opportunity to demonstrate these qualities.

Our immediate priorities have been to ensure our colleagues and partners are safe, and to join the fight against this deadly pandemic. The Ardian Foundation has created a dedicated fund, representing 10% of its annual budget. Ardian, alongside its employees, has provided further funds to support hospital care, health workers and medical research. At the same time, many of our portfolio companies are contributing vital products and services to the global “war effort”. Finally, we have decided that Ardian will not ask for any state support on its own account. Other companies’ needs are greater than ours.

“At moments like these, our responsibilities are

clearer than ever.”

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Fo r ewordDOM IN IQUE SENEQU I ERP r e s i d e n t o f A r d i a n

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PASCAL CHRISTORY

OLAF BONOTTO

GIOVANNA TRUCCO

DIDIER DECONINCK Vice-President of the Supervisory Committee

PATRICK THOMAS Chairman of the Supervisory Committee

JEAN-MICHEL VERHAEGEN

FRANÇOIS MORRISSON

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

SUPERV ISORY COM M IT TEE

Po in t o f v i ew

From the beginning, our mission as a Supervisory Committee has been to make sure Ardian has the same level of governance as a major public company. We have devoted much of our time to anticipating and addressing risks within Ardian’s organization and processes. With the world now suffering the first pandemic in a century, we are very glad that we did so – this does not guarantee everything, of course, but it puts Ardian in a stronger position and reminds us daily that we must never stop trying to improve the way this company operates and manages its risks.

Even with the current challenging circumstances in mind, it is still only right that we assess the past year: 2019. It was a period of extraordinarily rapid change for Ardian. Assets under management or advice grew by about 25% in a year and have now exceeded $100bn, confirming the company’s position among the largest private market investment houses in the world. To support this increase, Ardian recruited over 100 new staff members to reach a headcount of 664, challenging its teams to help many new colleagues gain an understanding of Ardian’s unique corporate culture.

This has necessarily increased the pressure on our committee to ensure that the organization can meet the growing demands placed upon it. 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 development has passed to Mathias Burghardt, Member of the Executive Committee and Head of Ardian Infrastructure.

Our Audit and Risk Committee has remained extremely vigilant about potential cybersecurity threats, both to the very large money transfers that Ardian must necessarily make but also to the highly confidential information Ardian holds on its clients and investments. With our full support, the company has invested significantly in IT risk management by recruiting external specialists in digital security.

Ardian now has a wealth of talent to draw upon and a robust international organization, with 15 offices around the world. Its activities in North America are well underway and we are proud of the excellent progress the company is making in its latest activity, Real Estate.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses very significant challenges to Ardian, its portfolio companies and its wider stakeholders. However, even in periods when market conditions were exceptionally buoyant, Ardian resisted the temptation to stray from its cautious and disciplined approach. It still holds to that approach. We are therefore confident that Ardian is strong enough to sustain itself and support its stakeholders through to better times.

Finally, I wish to welcome a new member to the Supervisory Committee, Mrs. Giovanna Trucco, who joined us during 2019.

PATRICK THOMAS Chairman of the Supervisory Committee

“Ardian is a strong company, thanks to its governance and the talented people whom it can call upon.”

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EXECUT IVE COM M IT TEE

I n c r e as ing ou r r e s i l i e n ce and d i ve r s i t y

2019 was an exceptionally strong year for our company. We closed record funds for Infrastructure, Co-Investment and Private Debt, and completed a series of landmark transactions in Secondary Fund of Funds and with our Buyout team in Europe and in the US. Infrastructure continued to forge ahead in North America and signed a very large debut deal in Germany, a country in which our Mandates team also had major wins. Ardian Growth saw the creation of its first $1bn portfolio company with Ivalua, a world-leading e-procurement platform.

After attracting 173 new investors last year, we now have more than 1,000 Limited Partners (LPs). And to support them, we have continued to hire more people than ever, as 106 new employees joined in 2019.

Of course, these successes came before the COVID-19 pandemic brought the global economy to a near-standstill. We are examining every aspect of our investments to ensure we are as well positioned as possible to withstand its challenges and provide the support that our companies and investors need. Indeed, even before this calamity struck, we were keenly aware that market conditions were becoming much more challenging and that we needed to select our investments with ever greater care and do all we could to strengthen our organization.

We are investing heavily in technology to increase efficiency and productivity, and give our investors a better, more streamlined experience. And we continue to focus relentlessly on attracting and retaining talented people who share our values and culture of service.

A central element of our plans to strengthen Ardian is to bring greater diversity, in all its facets, to our company. Last year, we decided to join the Investor Leadership Network, an organization founded in 2018 after the G7 in Canada to encourage collaboration between leading investors on issues related to sustainability and long-term growth. We are supporting the Investor Leadership Network's (ILN) work on increasing and measuring diversity. We believe that by making Ardian more diverse, we will also make it stronger.

We are also working to increase the positive impact of our investments and we continue to share the profits we generate on exit with the employees of our portfolio companies. We are strengthening and expanding our Foundation to help more people turn their aspirations for social mobility into reality. To accelerate this process, we decided during 2019 to donate a portion of Ardian’s carried interest to the Foundation, which will boost its financial resources over the next few years.

In the months ahead, and the years that will follow the COVID-19 crisis, we are certain that these decisions and initiatives will make us stronger and more resilient.

Although we face a formidable challenge from the effects of COVID-19, we begin the new decade in a strong position. We have a talented workforce and a strong, well-resourced organization that can withstand the pressures. Although the period ahead is extremely uncertain, we face the future with confidence and a firm belief that by standing by our partners and supporting each other, we can all come through these challenging times.

“We are investing heavily in our technology and focusing

relentlessly on attracting and retaining talented people.”

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MATHIAS BURGHARDT Head of Ardian Infrastructure

VLADIMIR COLAS Co-Head of Ardian US

MARK BENEDETTI Co-Head of Ardian US

OLIVIER DECANNIÈRE Head of Ardian UK

BENOÎT VERBRUGGHE Head of Ardian US and Head of Investor Relations

NICOLÒ SAIDELLI Head of Ardian Italy

JAN PHILIPP SCHMITZ Head of Ardian Germany, Asia and Mandates

VINCENT GOMBAULT Head of Fund of Funds and Head of Private Debt

JÉRÉMIE DELECOURT Head of Corporate and International Development

PHILIPPE POLETTI Head of Ardian Buyout

DOMINIQUE SENEQUIER President of Ardian

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Ou r j ou rney

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Over more than 20 years, our company has moved beyond its roots in France, first across Europe and then into Asia and the Americas. Wherever we go, we connect local knowledge and contacts to our powerful international network.

12.

How a single French LBO fundspawned a global company

14.

Ardian in numbers

16.

Our network spans the world

18.

Highlights of 2019

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investment teams in the major European centers has proved a key competitive advantage. The network expanded in 2007 when we opened in Milan, led by Nicolò Saidelli, giving us unrivaled reach in France, Germany and Italy.

In parallel, further investment activities were launched: the Expansion team under François Jerphagnon in 2002, followed three years later by Infrastructure, headed by Mathias Burghardt, and Private Debt, today led by Mark Brenke. Ardian is now Europe’s biggest infrastructure investor and a leading provider of private debt to European LBOs. In 2005, we also launched Co-Investment, now co-headed by Alexandre Motte and Patrick Kocsi. In 2008, Dominique Senequier signaled the company’s increasing focus on responsible investment with a public pledge to share, wherever possible, part of the company’s capital gains on exit with employees of the company involved. Our focus on social impact intensified two years later, with the launch in 2010 of the Ardian Foundation, dedicated to promoting social mobility.

INDEPENDENCE 2013In 2013, Dominique Senequier led an employee buyout of AXA Private Equity and created Ardian – Europe’s leading private investment house, with 320 staff and $36 billion under management or advice.

ACCELERATION 2013 ONWARDSAchieving independence opened a new chapter that saw our growth rate accelerate. We moved into Real Estate, now led by Stéphanie Bensimon, and also opened offices in Madrid and San Francisco in 2015. Our growing focus on sustainability earned us a score of A+ from the UN Principles for Responsible Investment in 2015 for our overall ESG policy.

We celebrated the company’s 20th anniversary in 2016 with a major expansion plan, targeting North America for our next phase of growth. In the following three years, we launched our Ardian North America Fund activity and Infrastructure fund in the US, expanded in Asia with offices in Tokyo and Seoul and opened our first South American office, in Santiago. In 2020, Ardian's 664 staff members are responsible for $100 billion of assets, placing us among an elite global group of private investment houses.

CREATION 1996We came into being in 1996, when Claude Bébéar, chairman of AXA, asked Dominique Senequier to create a private equity arm for the insurer. He promised to invest one franc for every two she raised from outside investors. Bébéar’s pledge fostered a huge determination in the young company to win clients and turn them into long-term partners by delivering excellent service and outstanding investment performance. AXA Private Equity launched with a $100 million French Buyout fund and two external clients. Two decades later, Bébéar recalled: “I gave her 25 million, I think it was in francs, and she achieved incredible growth.”

GROWTH 1996-2013The company expanded into new asset classes and built its international network. The Buyout team, led by Philippe Poletti, was joined in 1998 by the Growth team, now led by Laurent Foata and in 1999 by our Secondary Fund of Funds business, led by Vincent Gombault. Set up to trade portfolios of private equity holdings, it is now the world’s biggest Secondary Fund of Funds investor. That year, we also opened our first international offices in London and New York.

We laid the foundations of our “multilocal” strategy in 2001 with the opening of the Frankfurt office, today headed by Jan Philipp Schmitz. Creating local

How a s ing le French LBO fund spawned a g loba l companyOver the past 24 years, Ardian has grown from small beginnings into a world-leading private investment house – here is our story.

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A rd ian in numbers

100

A S S E T S U N D E R M A N A G E M E N T

Bn$

50

2014

55

2015

60

2016

67

2017

9020

18

$16BnR A I S E D I N 2 0 1 9

of capital gains has been distributed to 23,200 employees from

31 companies exited by Ardian since 2008

€57M+

1,060I N V E S T O R S

invested across our Direct, Infrastructure, Private Debt and Real

Estate activities in 99 transactions, of which 36 were build-ups in 2019

$13Bn invested through our Fund of Funds platform across 62 primary commitments

and 23 secondary transactions in 2019

€4Bn

$7.3BnD I S T R I B U T E D T O O U R I N V E S T O R S I N 2 0 1 9

F I G U RES AS O F D ECE M B ER 31, 2019

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2019

96

2020

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Our ne t work spans the wor ld

We have doubled our offices in Asia over the past two years in response to a strong appetite to invest from Asian institutions. We continue to explore direct investment opportunities.

We aim to be close to our clients and to plug our investment teams’ local knowledge into a powerful, global network.

Europe: ParisFrankfurtJerseyLondon

LuxembourgMadridMilanZurich

Asia: BeijingSeoul SingaporeTokyo

We have a growing presence in North America through our Fund of Funds, Buyout and Infrastructure activities, and are expanding in South America.

Americas: New YorkSan FranciscoSantiago

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Ardian’s multilocal network is unrivaled. We have a leading position in the core Eurozone economies and are growing in Western and Southern Europe and the UK.

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September 2019

FIFTH-GENERATION CO-INVESTMENT FUND ATTRACTS $2.5 BILLION

Co-Investment Fund V closed at a record size, more than doubling the sum raised for Fund IV. It attracted 190 LPs from Europe, the US and Asia, tripling the LP base.

November 2019

ARDIAN JOINS THE INVESTOR LEADERSHIP NETWORK

The Investor Leadership Network brings together 14 major institutions and asset managers from Europe and North America to address issues of sustainability and long-term growth. We are contributing to the ILN’s diversity work stream.

December 2019

FUND OF FUNDS SECONDARY TRANSACTION OF THE YEAR

Ardian Fund of Funds closed the largest ever secondary transaction, a landmark deal in which Ardian acquired a $5 billion portfolio from a financial institution.

January 2020

PRIVATE DEBT FUND IV CLOSES ABOVE FUNDRAISING TARGET

Ardian Private Debt closed its fourth-generation fund at €3 billion, above the original €2.5 billion target. The fund has a broader mandate than its predecessor, including stretched senior debt.

High l ight s o f 2019

March 2019

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND V CLOSES AT RECORD €6.1 BILLION

Ardian Infrastructure more than doubled the size of its previous vehicle, closing Europe’s biggest-ever fund in just six months. Some 125 investors subscribed, 30% of whom were new to Ardian.

April 2019

OPENING CEREMONY FOR NEW TOKYO OFFICE

Jan Philipp Schmitz, Head of Asia, welcomed around 100 local LPs, General Partners (GPs) and contacts, and confirmed Ardian’s intention to expand its activities in Japan and build new relationships.

June 2019

ARDIAN RECEIVES AN AWARD AT 2019 ESG BEST PRACTICES HONORS

We were honored in the “Multi-strategy Investment Platform” category at the 6th edition of the “2019 ESG Best Practices Honors” organized by Swen Capital Partners. The judging panel included representatives of the OECD and UN PRI.

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Jan Philipp Schmitz, Member of the Executive Committee, Head of Ardian Germany, Asia and Mandates

Philippe Poletti, Member of the Executive Committee and Head of Ardian Buyout, and Candice Brenet, Head of Sustainability

Advoca t ing r e spons ib l e f i nanceArdian’s success has been built on a longstanding culture of excellence and service. We pursue the highest professional standards and develop advanced tools to help us protect our clients’ interests and safeguard our reputation as a trusted partner.

22.

Investor Relations: committed to delivering world-class service to our clients

24.

Mandates: benefiting fromanother year of rapid growth

26.

Compliance: safeguardingour clients, portfolio assetsand Ardian

27.

Legal: ensuring we buildon solid foundations

28.

Technology: our digital transformation gathers momentum

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I nves tor Re la t ions: commit t ed t o de l i ve r ing wor ld- c lass se r v ice t o our c l ien t sPersonal service remains the foundation of Ardian’s relationship with investors. As the number of LPs grows, we are investing heavily in the technology and people we need to provide high-quality service at scale.

Ardian’s investor base grew quickly during 2019 as our expanded office network allowed us to form many new relationships all over the world. We closed record funds for our Infrastructure, Private Debt and Co-Investment activities, all of them at least twice the size of the previous generation, and now have more than 1,000 LPs.

To support this rapidly growing group of investors, we are strengthening our client servicing infrastructure so that we can continue to deliver the world-class customer experience they expect. Our Investor Relations team, comprising Product Marketing, Sales and Client Servicing, now numbers 60 people after 10 new team members joined in 2019.

The heart of the investor relations experience in our industry is still direct personal relationships. We are committed to meeting our investors regularly – individually and at private events – and to providing traditional service with a human face. But digital contact is increasingly important in the world we live in, and its role will continue to expand. Thus, to maintain our approach as we grow, we increasingly need to combine personal service with technology tools that will allow us to maintain our speed of response and efficiency.

We are investing in both customer-facing and reporting technology to strengthen our Investor Relations offering. The state-of-the-art investor portal we are developing will give each LP an individual dashboard with detailed information on their investments across all Ardian’s activities. We are investing to automate essential administrative processes that remain largely manual, such as the preparation of subscription documents and standard regulatory processes. These initiatives will deliver an enhanced investor experience and significant efficiency gains.

Alongside our expanding network of institutional relationships, we are attracting a large number of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI). This category of investors has a growing appetite for private market opportunities but continues to face barriers, mainly due to high minimum investments per fund and regulatory constraints in some countries. Over the past few years, a number of private banks have set up feeder funds and other structures to meet this growing demand from HNWIs. We see it as a key priority to continue developing strong relationships with private banks although we are also closely monitoring the emergence of new distribution channels using digital platforms.

“The infrastructure that supports our customer service must be as

strong as our fundraising capacity. We have to concentrate on

achieving world-class quality.”

BENOÎT VERBRUGGHE Member of the Executive Committee

173new cl ients making f irs t

investments with Ardian in 2019

products per c l ient on average

3.2

investors inc luding 490

High Net Wor th Individuals

1,060

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Mandates: bene f i t ing f rom another year o f rap id grow thInstitutions show strong appetite for Ardian Mandates’ flexibility and the benefits of Ardian’s global scale and privileged market access.

Our Mandates activity continued to grow strongly in 2019, with 10 new mandate commitments worth about $3 billion confirmed, including our selection by KENFO, Germany’s first sovereign wealth fund, to manage a large private markets allocation. This was one of the most keenly contested Mandates of the year, pit ting Ardian against many leading European and US players.

The strength of Ardian’s own range of funds, coupled with the excellent access our Fund of Funds platform gives us to primary fundraisings by top third-party managers, is proving very attractive. Last year, our main markets for mandate growth were in Europe (Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy), where our long-established local presence is providing a key advantage.

Mandates will remain a critical area of growth for Ardian as more clients take the opportunity to build individually tailored portfolios, spanning different asset classes, regions and market segments, with the legal structuring and level of active involvement that suits their needs. Our goal for 2020 and beyond is to consolidate our strong position in Europe for Mandates and increase our presence in the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.

$3Bn new mandate volume raised

in 2019

deployed in 2019

$4Bn

new mandate commitments

confirmed in 2019

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“Our Mandates activity will only become more important

in the future. A growing group of clients now wants

tailored portfolios rather than standardized products.”

DANIEL RATHMANN Investment Manager at KENFO

KENFO was established by the German government in 2017 to manage the country’s first sovereign wealth fund, which will finance the long-term storage of nuclear waste from the country’s decommissioned power plants. KENFO was set up with €24 billion contributed by the nuclear industry and will allocate about 30% of its capital to illiquid assets, including private equity. Daniel Rathmann, Investment Manager at KENFO, explains why it is working with Ardian.

“We want a global buyout portfolio with small, mid and large cap holdings and a small exposure to growth and turnaround. A mandate structure was right for us because it doesn’t make sense to build a large global in-house team for our private equity allocation. We want to be hands-on and participate in the ultimate decisions regarding portfolio construction and the target funds to be subscribed. However, it is currently not practical for us, nor do we have the resources at the moment, to build close relationships with multiple GPs within a short period of time and monitor them over the longer term. Therefore, we need to partner

with someone who already has those relationships and resources. Ardian, with its large team and established industry network, will source attractive investment opportunities across markets for our mandate, perform state of the art due diligence, and monitor our growing portfolio.

We looked at the entire market and conducted a competitive manager search process in which we assessed areas such as track record, team stability, access to quality target funds as well as managers’ local presence in different parts of the world – we don’t like managers who just fly in and out. It was a thorough process and we felt that Ardian met our expectations. In addition, we have been assigned dedicated local contacts, including senior investment professionals in Germany for any regular and ad-hoc information requirements.”

FocusGermany’s first sovereign wealth fund partners with Ardian

JAN PHILIPP SCHMITZ Head of Mandates, Ardian Germany and Asia, and Member of the Executive Committee

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Legal: ensuring we bui ld on so l id foundat ions

Our legal team provides the safeguards that protect our company and everyone who invests with us. They are the guardians of our corporate governance, ensuring that our executives have clear, robust rules to guide their decision-making. They negotiate our relationship with every LP, structuring each fund and the rules that govern it to deliver the fairest solution for Ardian and our LPs. During the life of every fund, they support our in-house teams to ensure that Ardian is always in constant contact with our clients and in a position to deliver on the commitments we have made to them.

The key to success for our legal team is transparency. Ardian has long-term relationships with its investors that depend on a high degree of mutual trust. The legal team takes great care to ensure that we reinforce this trust by being transparent and constructive with every client. By making sure the structures we put in place are not only market-standard but also completely in line with all legal requirements, we guarantee to our investors that everything we do meets their expectations.

Over the past year, the legal team has been at the front line during an intense period of fundraising activity for Ardian, as well as negotiating a landmark agreement with a major Wall Street bank to establish an important US feeder fund aimed at giving our funds access to a potential new market.

“There are two major pillars of what we do. First, we provide protection and security

for the company and its LPs. Then, we help all teams deliver what we have promised

to our investors.”

Co-Heads of Ardian’s Legal Team

Compl iance: sa feguarding our c l ien t s, por t fo l io asse t s and Ardian

MICHAEL FERRAGAMO Head of Global Compliance

Our priority is not just to follow regulations: it is to protect our investors, our portfolio companies and Ardian.

Ardian’s work is underpinned by a strong focus on the rules and principles that define how the company is run and how it manages relationships with every investor.

“It’s important that we all see our ethical and professional obligations not

as constraints, but as vital factors in protecting Ardian and our clients.”

Our Compliance team, which is based across our offices in Paris, London, New York and Singapore, is responsible for ensuring that Ardian’s activities are performed in the best interests of our clients while creating a safe regulatory investing environment. By fulfilling this role, our Compliance professionals act not only as the guardians of our investors‘ interests but also as protectors of our company’s most valuable asset: its reputation.

In 2019, we launched several major projects. These included improving our existing anti-corruption framework and designing a new digitalized compliance environment, notably to capture all ethics declarations required from employees, such as authorizations prior to personal transactions in listed securities. We also defined new deal flow allocation rules using a macro approach for Direct funds.

As a general trend, we are being asked to advise investment teams more frequently on a broad range of topics. These include the laws and regulations that govern the formation and management of mandates, funds and deals, as well as help with fulfilling obligations during an acquisition. In addition, we often advise portfolio companies on the international and domestic laws and regulations that affect them, including international sanctions and rules to counter corruption and money laundering.

“We work on every topic with every team in the company. Our role is to help the business find solutions, in a regulated environment, with the support of our Executive Committee. Compliance protects the interests of our investors and our assets and, in turn, Ardian’s reputation. Reputation is the key to everything – without it, we have no business.”

HUGO LAUQUE VIRGINIE BARBIER AUDREY VILLATTE

JEAN-BAPTISTE DECLERCQ Senior Compliance Officer

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“We are working on a dedicated platform for the Fund of Funds investment teams. All their investment monitoring and pricing were previously done via spreadsheets. This project aims to automate hundreds of Excel spreadsheets and streamline a huge number of repetitive manual tasks. It will standardize our processes and ensure uniformity in the data – as well as allow investment teams to focus on activities that create more value.”

CÉLESTIN VALLOIS IT Project Manager

Techno logy: our d ig i t a l t rans format ion ga thers momentumArdian invests continuously to develop IT tools that will deliver major advances in security and efficiency.

We devote significant resources and investment to technology development. Our IT team has more than 50 permanent staff – nearly 10% of Ardian’s total headcount – supported by up to 90 contractors and external consulting firms. They are working on multiple projects that touch every part of our organization and are on course to deliver major new tools during 2020 that will transform our internal processes and the way we engage with our investors.

Alongside our investment in digital innovation, we are always focused on identifying and managing cybersecurity risks. The security of our investors is a key concern in every project, and we use world-leading external security experts to complement our two in-house cybersecurity specialists.

To ensure we can deliver the IT functionality our teams require, during 2019 we reorganized the IT department and placed it under the leadership, at Executive Committee level, of Mathias Burghardt, Head of Ardian Infrastructure. The central aim of this reorganization was to create the closest possible collaboration between the business teams who will use our new IT tools and the IT professionals who will build them. We have created a group of Business Relationship Managers within the IT team, led by Vincent Joly, Head of IT, who will form the bridge between IT and the wider organization.

The major projects we will deliver during 2020 include:• Our online investor relations portal, which will deliver a customized dashboard for each LP. This will show all their investments with Ardian in a single view, as well as individual data and reports and a digital subscription process for new fund investments. This will also speed up our onboarding of new clients significantly.

• A cash flow projection tool that will replace the manual projections our investment teams currently produce for LPs. This will allow Ardian and our investors to gain a clearer view of future cash flows and enable LPs to plan their reinvestments into new funds more easily. This tool will be extended to our Mandates activity in early 2021.

“We must use digital technology to become more efficient, manage risk

more effectively and deliver an even better service to our investors.

This is critical for Ardian’s future.”

• A new digital tool that will take over more than 95% of the processes within the Fund of Funds team that are currently carried out using platforms like Microsoft Excel.

Beyond these very large projects, our IT team is also working on around 25 other projects with vir tually every part of the company. The aim in each case is to achieve operational excellence by automating as many of our internal processes as possible. This will hugely reduce the number of manual operations we carry out, improve our ability to manage risk and greatly increase our teams’ productivity. Strengthening our internal operations in this way is an essential step to enable the next phase of Ardian’s growth.

MATHIAS BURGHARDT Head of Ardian Infrastructure and in charge of technological development, Member of the Executive Committee

Sus t a inab i l i t yWe believe finance must be a force for good in society. We are therefore committed to understanding and improving the impacts of our activities, and to playing our part in addressing the social and environmental challenges that confront us all.

32.

The sustainability challengedemands constant innovation

34.

A unique view of the fund of funds industry’s ESG evolution

36.

Building tools to address climate change

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The Ardian Foundation: increased resources to fund our programs and respond to COVID-19

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The sus ta inabi l i t y cha l l enge demands cons tant innovat ion

Investment impactWe have been working for some time to move beyond simple monitoring of Environmental, Social and Governance indicators and develop a tool to measure and improve the impact of Ardian’s portfolio companies on our communities and stakeholders. During 2019, we developed a new measurement methodology drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the international Impact Management Project. Our new framework analyzes the entire value chain of each company, rather than simply its internal processes and operations, and provides a range of steps to improve its impact.

Profit sharingSince we produced our first profit sharing charter in 2008, we have distributed €57 million of capital gains on exit to more than 23,200 employees of 31 portfolio companies. Our general approach is to distribute a uniform sum representing between one and four months’ salary to every employee. In some companies, this bonus can represent up to six months’ salary for certain employees.

Profit sharing on exit has become an increasingly common practice across our portfolio companies – some 30% of the total amount we have shared to date was distributed during 2019.

CASE STUDY: GANTNER

CANDICE BRENET Head of Sustainability

We have developed our approach to sustainability and responsible investment year by year so that today it feeds into every area of our work.

We advanced our work on sustainability during 2019, making fresh commitments to fulfil our social responsibilities as a company and improving our monitoring of the sustainability and impact of our investments.

Diversity & equal opportunitiesArdian is helping to address critical issues in our industry by joining 13 other major North American and European institutions in the Investor Leadership Network (ILN). The ILN was formed following Canada’s 2018 presidency of the G7 to address issues of sustainability and long-term growth. We are contributing to its diversity work stream, focusing for the moment on gender balance. We monitor gender diversity within Ardian, including representation of women in leadership and risk-taking positions, and collaborate in developing best practices to promote diversity internally and within portfolio companies.

We have also joined the Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) program, which is the leading certification system globally to promote gender equality in career opportunities.

In addition we have signed the diversity charter of the French private equity association, France Invest. In house, we will further track diversity KPIs in our portfolio companies and our Fund of Funds portfolio and will work closely with our colleagues in HR to promote greater gender diversity, building on the mentoring and networking activities of Ardian’s Women’s Club.

Climate changeOur major initiative last year was a project to measure the carbon footprint of our infrastructure portfolio and model its projected growth against the performance needed to restrict the global temperature increase to 2 degrees centigrade. Together with the CEOs of our infrastructure companies, we set a target of reducing their companies’ direct emissions by 20% by 2030.

We also analyzed the carbon footprint of the Expansion portfolio, identifying material issues for each company and assessing the physical and transition risks that climate change poses for them.

Ardian continues to play an active role at the industry level, and hosted the “Get up to speed on climate change” workshop during the PRI in Person event in September 2019. Candice Brenet, Head of Sustainability, joined the Commission for Climate and Sustainable Finance, hosted by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), France’s regulatory body. This brings together expert members to help create regulatory policy that is ambitious and relevant for businesses.

126companies in our Buyout, Expansion,

Infrastructure and Real Estate

por tfolios have received

a tailored sustainability

roadmap since 2009

responded to our seventh

Fund of Funds por tfolio

monitoring sur vey, up 10%

vs. 2018

170 GPS

“Our new impact measurement framework shows our commitment to stay at the forefront of the industry’s

thinking on sustainability.”

Ardian Expansion acquired Gantner in 2016. The Austrian technology company has 370 employees and produces contactless systems to control access to premises, enable payments and record staff time.

We have helped Gantner improve its sustainability and the impact it has through its supply chain.

Key projects included:• Responsible purchasing. A new policy targeted health and safety, quality and environmental criteria. As a result, 22 of the company’s top 25 suppliers are now ISO 9001 certified for quality management and 19 are ISO 14001 certified for environmental management.• Eco-design. In 2018, Gantner redesigned one of its main products to use 66% less plastic, 54% less power and remove the need for an integrated battery. • Operational improvements. The company introduced an ISO 14001:2015-certified environmental management system and appointed a staff member to focus on environmental issues. • Energy efficiency. Gantner moved into new energy-efficient premises that use groundwater for heating and cooling and generate clean electricity through solar panels.

of the companies in our Buyout, Expansion and Infrastructure por tfolios that

are par t of the Ardian

Sustainability Program have put in place employee

profit-sharing schemes during our ownership

68%

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Fo cusLatest campaign shows ESG ratings climbing

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OLIVIER DECANNIÈRE Head of Ardian UK and Member of the Executive Committee

Since 2011, we have been conducting regular surveys of the GPs in our Fund of Funds portfolio to understand how they handle Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues in their investment activities and within their company.

As one of the world’s largest investors in Fund of Funds, we have built up an extensive body of survey data over almost ten years. This, coupled with Ardian’s own sustainability initiatives, has given us a unique insight into how the private equity industry’s approach to ESG is evolving.

Some 170 GPs took part in our 2019 survey, representing 88.5% of the net asset value of our Fund of Funds portfolio across primary, secondary and mandate engagements. As well as giving us detailed knowledge of our industry’s ESG performance, our relationships with such a large group of GPs also makes us a trusted source of advice on best practices across the industry. Once we have analyzed each set of survey results, we send an individual scorecard to every GP, providing tailored feedback. We also offer every GP follow-up meetings and calls if they wish to discuss their results further.

Our 2019 findings demonstrate clearly that incorporating ESG factors into the investment process is now standard practice for the majority of private equity managers, and for the first time we found that a majority of GPs had set responsible investment-related goals for the year ahead.

However, we also observed that the proportion of female employees was static, year after year, although it is increasing gradually at the executive level. Diversity is a central part of Ardian’s sustainability strategy, and in future surveys we will examine the industry’s developing gender balance, particularly within investment teams.

“As one of the world’s leading fund of funds investors,

we see it as our role to engage and share best practices with GPs.”

76%of GPs have

either a full-time or a part-time

CSR Officer

of GPs report that they have a

formal responsible investment policy

of GPs with outstanding

financial performance

have best-in-class ESG results

(A+ or A score)

87%

48%

Our most recent GP survey showed that ESG practices are continuing to improve across the portfolio, with 87% of GPs now reporting that they have a formal reponsible investment policy. This figure has been rising steadily since we launched our survey – in 2014 it stood at just 50%. Similarly, 46% of those who completed our GP survey are signatories of at least one responsible investment-related initiative. Within this group, the UN PRI is by far the most frequent choice: 91% say they are signatories, up from 83% in 2018.

Current Fund of Funds portfolio breakdown of ESG scores by Net Asset Value

We see a close correlation between GPs who achieve an A+ or A rating for their ESG performance as investors, and those who also achieve the same rating for their commitment to ESG at a corporate level.

Responsible investment-related objectivesFor the first time, a majority of GPs have set formal responsible investment-related objectives for the coming year.

The private equity industry’s growing maturity in terms of responsible investment is evidenced by GPs’ adoption of formal responsible investment-related objectives. Some 54% of GPs that took part in our 2019 survey had done so, up from 41% in 2018. Most respondents set at least three objectives, indicating a commitment to implement a comprehensive responsible investment policy.

Most responsible investment objectives focus on the investment process, specifically ESG monitoring of portfolio companies and incorporating ESG considerations into GPs’ due diligence and investment decision-making.

DiversityWomen hold at least 30% of executive positions at just one GP out of 10. But GPs are addressing this issue – around half of the participants (49%) have a diversity policy or intend to have one by the end of the year with North American GPs leading the way. The most popular type of program, implemented by 85% of respondents, aims to promote diversity in the recruitment process.

A unique v iew o f t he fund o f funds indust r y ’s ESG evo lu t ionArdian has been monitoring ESG performance among the managers in our Fund of Funds portfolio for almost 10 years. The data from our years of research gives us an unparalleled overview of the industry’s approach to sustainability.

Yes 54%

No 46%

A+ and A: 59% of NAV vs. 11% in 2016

C: 20% of NAV

B: 13% of NAV

D and E: 7% of NAV

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Bui ld ing t oo ls t o address c l imate changeReducing carbon emissions is central to our sustainability agenda – but it will also protect and enhance the long-term value of our investments.

The global drive to address the threats posed by climate change is gaining momentum. As an investor with interests in scores of companies, Ardian has a social obligation to play a leading role in these efforts, both within our own business and by helping our portfolio companies transition to lower carbon-intensity ways of operating.

We are collaborating on research into how we can reduce the carbon intensity of our companies, notably via the latest phase of our Augmented Infrastructure project, “Digital For Climate”. We are also developing tools internally to measure carbon emissions from our investee businesses and help us develop strategies to reduce them.

Addressing our climate impact is part of our social responsibility as a business. But it also illustrates our pragmatic, practical approach to confronting the major threat facing the world today. We firmly believe that tomorrow’s winners will be the companies that take the lead in reducing carbon emissions and find ways to grow that are much less carbon intensive. Those that lag behind will struggle to attract investment and will see their value impaired.

It is therefore critical to develop ways to measure companies’ direct and indirect carbon emissions and gain a comprehensive view of their climate impact. Digitalization and data feeds are the key ingredients. Using these tools, we can model emissions accurately in real time, unlocking the essential data that will inform constructive dialogue between all stakeholders to find sustainable solutions.

Air CarbonAir Carbon is a data-analysis tool that provides real-time estimates of airports’ carbon emissions from all sources – ranging from aircraft movements to ground operations. It will soon also include the infrastructure itself as well as passenger travel to and from the airport. Ardian Infrastructure designed the tool in collaboration with university students from HEC, Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole 42 to help airport management teams quantify the impact of their existing activities and proposed investments, and collaborate more effectively with other stakeholders, such as public transport authorities, to reduce emissions.

Although originally developed for use with our Infrastructure team’s airport investments, we intend to apply tools such as Air Carbon across all our investment activities. Our aim is to multiply the impact of innovations like this as far as possible. Using data analysis tools such as Air Carbon, we intend to transform the way we analyze companies across all sectors and help them accelerate their transition to less carbon-intensive ways of operating.

LOUISE BADARANI Data Scientist & Analyst Infrastructure

“I developed the original Air Carbon project with two other students and I’m now rolling it out to the airports in our portfolio and improving it to include very granular data on road travel as well as aircraft movements. We’re taking existing data and automating the process of turning it into concrete metrics. This lets us quantify the challenges of addressing carbon emissions and enable our stakeholders to make data-driven and impactful decisions.”

“Using data analysis tools such as Air Carbon, we intend to transform the way we analyze the companies

across all sectors and help them accelerate their transition to less

carbon-intensive ways of operating.”

MATHIAS BURGHARDT Head of Ardian Infrastructure and in charge of technological development, Member of the Executive Committee

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The Ard ian Foundat ion: inc reased resources t o fund our programs and respond to COVID -19

In 2020, the Ardian Foundation celebrates its 10th anniversary. Over the past decade, the Foundation has provided a vehicle for our company’s engagement in social causes and an opportunity for our employees to unite around a common cause: promoting social mobility and integration for children and adults from disadvantaged backgrounds through education and work skills.

The Foundation has channeled financial support to more than 60 organizations focused on social mobility and receives active support from one in four of our 664 staff, many of whom volunteer as mentors. In recent years, it has significantly expanded its activities outside France and now has thriving local centers of activity in China, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US, with more to follow.

THE FOUNDATION TURNS 10

In April 2020, the Ardian Foundation created a dedicated fund of €180,000, representing 10% of its annual budget, to help the organizations we support and their beneficiaries withstand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, Ardian, alongside its employees, has provided further funds to support hospital care, health workers and medical research, while our international offices have helped to fund local initiatives. These donations were augmented by our Chinese partners, who sent protective equipment for use in hospitals. We offer them our wholehearted thanks for their friendship and solidarity.

JOINING THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19

The Foundation has provided strong support to its partners to help withstand the impact of the pandemic, and has expanded its social mobility programs for children and young people.

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YANN BAK President of the Ardian Foundation and Managing Director at Ardian Buyout

Ardian’s decision to pass a share of its carried interest to the Foundation clearly signals the strength of the company’s support for initiatives to improve social mobility. This move will boost the Foundation’s budget over the coming years and enable the organization to expand its activities further.

The Foundation now supports 39 partner charities globally, all of which focus on providing educational opportunities and work skills to disadvantaged children and young people. For the next stage of its development, we plan to focus more of our support on around a dozen flagship projects, where as well as providing funding we will offer practical help to strengthen the organizations themselves and increase their effectiveness.

We believe our expertise in helping ambitious companies to grow can also bring value to the philanthropic sector. As part of this initiative, we have created a dedicated budget to help these organizations with IT and digital challenges.

Over the past year, the Foundation has worked with two new partner charities, Magic Breakfast and Chemins d’Avenirs, among others.

Magic Breakfast is a British charity that provides free, healthy breakfasts to children from disadvantaged backgrounds in schools across the UK. In 2019, 1st Grade pupils who received free breakfasts boosted their reading, writing and math skills by an average of two months’ progress per year, compared to children in schools with no such breakfast provision.

Chemins d’Avenirs offers sponsorship and mentoring to secondary school pupils and students in rural areas and small towns in France, regardless of social background or academic ability, to help them achieve their potential in whatever field they aim to pursue. “Expanding our budget

has allowed us to make a very material contribution to our

beneficiaries during the pandemic, as well as doing more to strengthen

our partner charities.”

Alongside these new partnerships, we continued the Foundation’s international roll-out, working through local representatives across Ardian’s offices. The Foundation is now well established in the UK, US and China and is generating interest from staff in other offices, including Italy and Chile. We also launched the third edition of our flagship entrepreneurs’ program, “3,2,1”, which provides grants and coaching for 11 entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds in France who want to set up micro-businesses.

Around a quarter of Ardian’s employees got involved in the Foundation’s work during 2019, and 150 of our Paris staff attended our first Citizens’ Day event, which showcased several of our partner organizations. We are working to increase employee engagement further and looking at ways to involve our portfolio companies in the Foundation’s activities.

160,000 benefic iar ies

More than

Ardian employeesinvolved in Foundation

projects

25%

par tnerships with chari t ies

s ince 2010

63

donated s ince 2010

€6M

Active in

countr ies

7

Trus t i ng t a l en t ed p eop l e t oday and t omor rowTalent is the past, present and future of Ardian: to achieve the standards we aspire to, we must attract and develop outstanding people, wherever they come from. The better we become at this, the brighter our future will be.

42.

Diversity will strengthenour collective intelligence

44.

Millennial Executive Committee:Ardian’s younger generationmakes its mark

46.

We offer talented people many routes to success

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Divers i t y w i l l s t reng then our co l l e c t i ve in t e l l igence

Diversity and inclusion initiativesWe are increasing our efforts to improve gender equality and the representation of women in senior roles, as well as increasing representation of disabled employees. Some important progress has already been made. There is full gender pay equality at Ardian, and 31% of senior management roles are now filled by women. Within our investment teams, traditionally the most male-dominated area of the industry, a quarter of new joiners over the past two years have been women.

EDGE certificationIn April 2020, we have obtained the first level of certification under the Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) “EDGE assess”. Our next priority is to graduate to higher levels over the next few years. The program assesses four areas: gender balance, equal pay, equitable career flows and inclusive culture. We launched the EDGE certification process in January 2020 with an all-staff questionnaire and the collection of HR metrics and policies.

JÉRÉMIE DELECOURT Member of the Executive Committee supervising Human Resources

To achieve sustainable success, Ardian needs to attract talented people from a wider range of backgrounds, while ensuring that they work in an environment where everyone feels fully included.

Ardian’s strong performance and reputation allows us to attract talented people to all parts of our company. During 2019, we recruited 106 new employees, increasing our headcount to 664. These new colleagues are making us stronger in every department but, beyond that, we believe that to sustain our performance, we need to hire talent from more diverse backgrounds that better reflect the world we operate in. Equally, to ensure that everyone who joins Ardian can reach their full potential, no matter what background they come from, our culture must be as inclusive as possible.

Collective intelligenceThe rewards for attracting a more diverse pool of talent, and ensuring everyone feels valued and included, are large. Greater diversity will allow us to draw on a wider spectrum of perspectives and experiences, strengthening the collective intelligence of our company and increasing our ability to outperform. Creating a more inclusive culture will allow us to retain and nurture talented employees from all walks of life.

We already run several programs to develop and retain our staff. These include Ardian University, which helps all new employees to better understand our culture and to develop their technical skills, and a mentoring program that links young employees with more experienced and senior colleagues. Our Millennial Executive Committee represents our younger staff and gives them a formal role in shaping the future of the company, while Ardian Startup Studio, now in its second year, encourages staff to put forward ideas that will benefit the company and aid their personal development.

However, there is more to do and we see the steps we took in 2019 as the start of a multi-year process to embed diversity and inclusion more deeply in our culture.

“Our aim is to find talented people from a diverse pool and

welcome them into our company. We want to do a lot more to

promote diversity and inclusion over the next few years.”

THE WELL-BE ING OF ARDIAN EMPLOYEES

98%

of Ardian employees say they are proud to work for Ardian

93%

of them would recommend Ardian as an employer

90%

say they are happy at work

106new employees

in 2019

average age of an Ardian

employee

35.6

664employees

Source: Ardian in-house survey conducted by Harris Interactive, December 2019

4 4 4 5

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

The new members of the Millennial Executive Committee

ZACHARY LEVINE Fund of Funds – San Francisco

PAULINE THOMSON Infrastructure – Paris

ANAÏS ROBIN Buyout – Paris

DAVID MCDONOUGH Fund Finance Fund of Funds – London

ALVARO SANZ CARRASQUEÑO Infrastructure – Madrid

NADINE ZARIFFA Buyout – Milan

MATTHIEU LABOUCHE Co-Investment – Paris

OMAR FJER Real Estate – Paris

APOORVA JOSHI Fund of Funds – London

MAXIME DURIEUX Legal – London

JÉRÔME JOUYET Investor Relations – Paris

JESSICA DU VIVIER Human Resources – Paris

ROMAIN CHIUDINI Growth – Paris

YANNIC METZGER Expansion – Frankfurt

(missing) ADA WEN Fund of Funds – Beijing

Mil l ennia l Execu t i ve Commit t ee: Ard ian’s younger genera t ion makes i t s mark

The Millennial Executive Committee brings together a group of employees under the age of 35 across the company to develop ideas in collaboration with Ardian‘s departments. Their purpose is to support the company’s long-term success by focusing on attracting and retaining talent, increasing cohesion among our staff, strengthening Ardian’s reputation and improving its impact from a social and environmental point of view. Originally formed in 2017 with 12 members, the Millennial Executive Committee is progressively handing over its responsibilities to a new group of young employees.

Its membership will expand to 15 during 2020 to reflect Ardian’s increasing headcount, thus increasing participation from different departments and countries. The group meets twice a year in person and by video conference every six weeks.

Since it was set up, the Millennial Executive Committee has worked on around 10 projects, identifying key topics and working closely with dif ferent departments to develop and implement its solutions. Previous projects have included improving the welcome pack and integration seminar for new joiners and working with the Ardian Foundation to devolve more control over projects to local teams around the world.

The major initiatives the committee worked on in 2019 included:

Ardian Feedback Loop: A new 360-degree review system developed with Ardian’s HR department. Feedback Loop will allow the employees to receive feedback from peers, colleagues and their managers. This initiative, which the committee hopes will help to develop leadership skills in new managers, is a major change for the company. It was test-launched to a limited group of employees with plans for a wider roll-out in 2020.

ACT 20: Starting in 2020, the committee and the HR team are launching a new training event for people promoted each January to management roles in support functions or to senior investment manager positions. Ardian Conference and Training 2020 will bring together around 40 people in 2020 to encourage innovative thinking and provide training on the key topics of artificial intelligence and emotional intelligence. The conference will also help people in different parts of the company to develop their personal network and increase cohesion within Ardian.

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The Millennial Executive Committee has developed a series of projects to strengthen management skills across the company and reinforce Ardian’s culture and cohesion.

GIACOMO FORTI President of the first Millennial

Executive Committee

“Ardian’s decision to create the Millennial Executive Committee

was a great example of long-term thinking. It encourages

collaboration and helps the company keep pace with a world

that is constantly changing.”

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Many of our staff join the company as post-graduate interns, embarking on a journey that can open new horizons for them – professionally and personally.

We of fe r t a lent ed peop le many rou t es t o success

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MARIE-VICTOIRE ROZÉ Managing Director Fund of FundsParis – LondonAt Ardian since 2005

“I started my journey at Ardian in 2005. Like many of us, I joined the company as an intern within the Fund of Funds team in Paris, where I spent the first four years of my career. In 2009, I was offered the opportunity to move to the New York office, where I worked with my colleagues in the US Fund of Funds team for more than two years. This was a very exciting time because Ardian’s profile in the US secondary market – and globally – was changing dramatically. In 2011, I returned to Europe to work on investment opportunities in primary and secondary fund of funds. In my 15 years with Ardian, I have had many opportunities to grow and overcome new challenges. It’s been an amazing journey so far.”

IOANNIS AMOUTZAS Senior Finance Officer Fund of FundsLondonAt Ardian since 2015

“I joined Ardian in September 2015 as an intern in the Fund Finance team for Fund of Funds in London, after graduating from Athens University of Economics and the London School of Economics. Ardian gave me the opportunity to develop my skills and progress within the team and strongly supported my personal and career development by enabling me to qualify as a chartered accountant. Also, I was able to take part in Ardian’s rotation program and spend time working with my colleagues in the New York office. That was an incredible opportunity, which helped me get to know different teams and understand the multiple challenges Ardian faces globally.”

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ARTHUR DE SALINS Director ExpansionParisAt Ardian since 2011

“I am an Ardian “baby”. Like many others, I started as a post-graduate intern and nine years later I am a Director in the Expansion team. As far as I am concerned, it is part of Ardian’s DNA to trust young people and help them grow professionally and personally. It totally reflects Ardian’s values: this organization is looking for excellence and is very demanding, but it knows how rewarding it is to be given the responsibility to make decisions. This creates long-lasting loyalty. Not only am I involved in the Expansion team, which is fast-moving and very exciting, but I also volunteer with the Ardian Foundation as a mentor for Sport dans la Ville, one of its partner charities. This is another aspect of life at Ardian that I enjoy: it’s an investment company that believes finance must have a sustainable purpose.”

ERIN ODISIO JONES Investor Relations DirectorSan FranciscoAt Ardian since 2015

“I joined Ardian four years ago as the first native Californian (my family is from San Francisco) and was excited about the opportunity to deepen Ardian’s Western US and Canadian relationships. The best part about my role is the opportunity to share the Ardian story with smart and sophisticated investors across North America. Traveling to cities throughout my region with colleagues from around the world and all our investment teams keeps my job interesting and fresh. Everyone is always enthusiastic about coming out here – especially if it means visiting California in January! It’s important in our business to build deep and meaningful relationships, so it was essential to me that I join a firm that really sees the client as a partner – which is certainly the case at Ardian.”

Our inves tmen t a c t i v i t i e s

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The foundation of our approach is to create long-term, trusting partnerships with entrepreneurs, managers and investors. We commit our resources and expertise to support them on their journey and together achieve our common goal: sustainable value.

52.

We span the private investment market

54.

Fund of Funds

58.

Buyout

64.

Expansion

70.

Growth

76.

Ardian North America Fund

80.

Co-Investment

86.

Infrastructure

92.

Private Debt

98.

Real Estate

52 5 3

Ardian specializes in five asset classes. Our largest activity is Fund of Funds, where we invest globally in secondary transactions as well as make primary commitments through our Mandates operation. Our Direct Funds and Infrastructure activities have strong positions in Continental Europe. We are progressively extending both activities to North America and, in Infrastructure’s case, South America as well. Private Debt specializes in providing non-bank funding for European LBO deals. Finally, our newest activity – Real Estate – acquires and refurbishes office properties in Europe’s most dynamic cities.

US$56BnF U N D O F F U N D S

Primary Ear ly Secondar y Secondar y

Buyout Ardian Nor th America Fund Co-Inves tmentGrowthExpansion

US$20BnD I R E C T F U N D S

US$15BnI N F R A S T R U C T U R E

US$7BnP R I V A T E D E B T

US$2BnR E A L E S T A T E

We span the pr i va t e inves tment marke t

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U n r i v a l e d c a p a c i t y t o e x e c u t e t h e w o r l d ’ s l a r g e s t d e a l s

VINCENT GOMBAULT Head of Ardian Fund of Funds and Ardian Private Debt, and Member of the Executive Committee

Ardian dominates the secondary fund of funds market globally and is a major player in primary commitments, where it invests with leading GPs, mainly through its fast-growing Mandates business.

During 2019, the team reinforced its position at the top end of the Secondary market by successfully executing several of the largest and most complex transactions attempted to date. This was epitomized by the closing of the largest ever secondary transaction in December 2019, a landmark deal in which Ardian acquired a $5 billion portfolio from a financial institution. Overall, Ardian deployed more than $10 billion in secondary transactions in 2019, with the team having largely committed Secondary Fund VII. On the primary side, Ardian continued to use its strong network to provide its investors access to top-tier funds worldwide.

As private equity becomes an increasingly liquid asset class, more institutional sellers are looking to the secondary market to implement strategic shif ts or respond to regulatory changes. Ardian occupies a unique position as a provider of rapid, dependable solutions to these sellers, thanks to its market-leading data and intelligence, established relationships with GPs globally and the scale of its financial resources.

The high level of primary fundraising from 2016-19 indicates that Secondary turnover is set to rise significantly, with annual deals likely to top $100 billion within the next two years. Even at that level, turnover would represent a tiny percentage of the overall asset class and leave significant room for growth.

The team responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by carrying out a detailed analysis of all port folio holdings. It is monitoring the situation but does not currently anticipate any cash constraints or major covenant breaches in the secondary portfolio.

“Deal timescales are getting shorter, which plays directly to our strengths: only buyers with outstanding data and IT systems can move this fast.”

Fund o f Funds

$84Bn value of

secondar y deals in 2019

secondar y transact ions

and 62 primar y

commitments in 2019

23

investment professionals

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S E L EC TED PR I M A RY COM M ITM ENTS SE L EC TED SECO N DA RY TR A NSAC T I O NS

T O TA L A M O U N T D E P L O Y E D I N S E C O N D A R Y T R A N S A C T I O N S I N 2 0 1 9 I N 2 3 T R A N S A C T I O N S

$10.8Bn

Secondary

Asian Bank

87 LP interests & 7 co-investments

12/2019

$5Bn

$802M

$786M

North American Pension Fund

11 LP interests 03/2019

European Financial Institution


Early Secondary

Family Office


$54M

$66M

$40M

North American Insurance Company


European Public Financial Institution


Infrastructure Secondary

North American Pension Fund


$200M

$722M

$77M

Asian Insurance Company

3 LP interests & 1 co-investment

04/2019

European Corporate


Blackstone VIII 08/2019

Apax X 07/2019

Advent GPE IX 07/2019

Global Infrastructure IV

07/2019

Providence VIII 03/2019

Global funds

JLL VIII 06/2019

Nautic IX 03/2019

Genstar IX 02/2019

Court Square IV 01/2019

Oak Hill V 01/2019

North America funds

IK IX 08/2019

Pan European Infrastructure III

08/2019

Permira VII 06/2019

Cinven VII 04/2019

Carlyle Europe Technology IV

01/2019

Europe funds

CVC Asia V 12/2019

J-STAR No. 4 08/2019

LYFE III 09/2019

PEP VI 07/2019

Warburg Pincus China II 06/2019

Asia funds

T O TA L A M O U N T D E P L O Y E D I N P R I M A R Y C O M M I T M E N T S I N 2 0 1 9 I N 6 2 F U N D S

$2.2Bn

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T r a n s f o r m i n g a m b i t i o u s E u r o p e a nc o m p a n i e s i n t o g l o b a l p l a y e r s

PHILIPPE POLETTI Head of Ardian Buyout and Member of the Executive Committee

Ardian Buyout reinforced its reputation for executing transformational growth strategies during 2019 with the creation of Europe’s biggest healthcare software company. At a total value of close to €2 billion, the signing of Agfa-Gevaert’s healthcare software business to combine it with Dedalus was one of the biggest European transactions in 2019. It also provides a powerful illustration of the team's investment strategy: to concentrate on selected sectors with long-term growth potential and build leading niche players with a global reach.

In 2019, the Buyout team completed five acquisitions, along with ten add-on deals for existing portfolio companies and two exits. The completed transactions include a majority of proprietary deals, with a broad geographical spread, all delivering strong organic growth. Ardian Buyout’s use of leverage (4.8x Ebitda on average) remains cautious and below the market average. On top of those acquisitions, the team signed in December 2019 two additional deals with Audiotonix and Cérélia.

Following Ardian Buyout’s expansion into North America, the four-strong New York-based team is now delivering significant value by working on US acquisitions for portfolio companies. Their presence is also strengthening the ability to develop value creation plans that depend significantly on US growth. This proved crucial in the deal to acquire Cérélia, an innovative French bakery products company which has major ambitions to expand in North America.

In addition, since the beginning of 2020, the team has agreed the sale of DRT to Firmenich, which will result in additional returns to its LPs. The Buyout team is now composed of 49 people with 13 new hires in 2019.

To mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team took early action to support its portfolio companies, helping them to safeguard their employees, cut costs, reinforce their cash position and access state support programs wherever appropriate.

“We continue to reinforce our team and promote talented young professionals. Today half our Managing Directors are under 40, and the proportion in that age bracket will increase.”

Buyout

49investment

professionals

valuat ion of targeted companies

€300M to

€2Bn

build-ups executed in

2019

10

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I n conversa t ion w i th Dedalus

Trans format iona l dea l c rea t es European l eader in Hea l thcare I T

Yann Chareton: It was always Giorgio’s ambition to make Dedalus the number one healthcare IT provider in Europe. When we invested in 2017, the company had just completed a transformational deal that made it the clear leader in Italy, and over the next three years together we consolidated that acquisition, reinforced the group structure, built up the business in France and invested in an innovative new product suite. In three years, Dedalus grew from €80 million of revenues to about €210 million, but the opportunity to acquire Agfa-Gevaert’s healthcare software business takes the business to another level.

Giorgio Moretti: With Agfa-Gevaert, we are now the leader in Italy, Germany and France with nearly €500 million of annual revenues and 3,500 employees. This makes us by far the biggest player in European healthcare IT and puts us in a unique position – the only international player in this market that is not American. We have created a European leader with the scale to invest efficiently in R&D.

Y.C.: From Ardian’s perspective, we could have exited in 2019 but when the Agfa opportunity came up, we decided to reinvest significantly and start again with the same kind of project – a transformational deal but this time at the European level. This is a very significant transaction for Dedalus – and for the European software industry – but also for us. As a Continental European leader, it allowed us to leverage our platform. We worked a lot with our German colleagues to get this deal done.

G.M.: This is a very strategic company for Europe. Healthcare represents 11%-12% of Europe’s GDP and the challenge of creating a sustainable system is huge because the population is ageing and costs are growing dramatically. Dedalus plays a really important and unique role in the health system because our products manage both clinical activities and the way the whole service is organized. I believe Europe is very late in recognizing IT and digitalization as fundamental in optimizing the quality of clinical care as well as the sustainability of the entire system.

Y.C.: Our ultimate ambition is that Dedalus will be the organization that drives the digitalization of the Continental European health system.

G.M.: The clinical profession has gone through an amazing evolution over the past 50 years, but there really hasn’t been any major transformation in the way clinicians work as a result of IT. A lot of processes have been automated but nobody has been able to rethink entire clinical processes using the kind of IT tools we now have. Thanks to our market position, the new product suite we have developed and our systemic vision of the entire market, I think we can do it.

Y.C.: We see huge opportunities in the longer term. Today the data produced in hospitals and healthcare systems are barely used for clinical solutions. All these data are produced by clinical studies, which use very small samples. Healthcare systems have not been organized to produce data that can be used by people undertaking clinical research. The challenge for us in terms of innovation is to rethink the way IT is organized in order to make this data available for clinical purposes. Not only

in terms of the health management of populations, but to really think about how to cure people and to learn how to do it better using data. That’s very difficult today because of the low level of technology and awareness of what IT can offer in the healthcare environment, and sometimes because of a lack of funding. If we could use even a small portion of the data we will produce, it would change everything – the development of drugs, monitoring of efficiency, time to market, etc.

G.M.: Our goal is to capture and contextualize all kinds of clinical data in a standardized way so that we can transform the data into clinical information and knowledge that can be shared and understood by everyone. If it’s possible to share high-quality clinical information, we will be able to apply best practices, which means higher quality for the patient, reduced clinical risk for the professionals and a more efficient system with better control over costs.

Y.C.: We have always liked Giorgio’s long-term vision for Dedalus, but I have also been amazed by the capacity of this company to reinvent itself and manage its own transformation at a very rapid pace. We think it’s in Ardian’s DNA to back successful entrepreneurs in this kind of project.

YANN CHARETON Managing Director at Ardian Buyout

GIORGIO MORETTI Founder and Chairman of Dedalus

Healthcare software

No. 1position in Europe

with leadership position in Germany,

Italy and France

30countries

3,500employees

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Investments

Schleich

Date of investment: July 2014Date of exit : July 2019Sector: Toy manufacturer

Schleich is one of the largest toy manufacturers in Germany and a leading international supplier of figurines and playsets. Since Ardian invested in Schleich in 2014, the company’s sales have risen from €106 million to €183 million and its employee headcount has grown from around 340 to 400.

Cel l i

Date of investment: Mar. 2019Sector: Beverage dispensing solut ions

Celli is an Italian company that designs and sells innovative beverage dispensing solutions for breweries and soft drinks companies. It also manufactures water dispensers. It has five manufacturing sites in Italy and the UK.

Study Group

Date of investment: May 2019Sector: Education

Study Group is a leading provider of international education in the UK and Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America. The group provides preparatory courses for international students who wish to enter leading English-speaking universities. Each year, it supports around 30,000 students from 142 countries.

Staci

Date of investment: Oct. 2019Sector: Logist ics

Staci is a European leader in innovative B2B and B2B2C complex logistics solutions for companies wishing to outsource all or part of their network or customer procurement operations. It has around 1,900 employees and generated revenues of more than €340 million in 2019.

H I GH L I GHTS FROM 2019

Exit

BUYO UT P O RTFO L I O

Company Invest. date Act iv i t y Count r y 2019 est imated revenues (€M)

10/2019 Specialty logistics solutions for companies France 340

07/2019 Specialty pharmaceutical company Switzerland 86

05/2019 International education provider United Kingdom 276

04/2019 Maintenance, repair and overhaul of commercial transport aircraft equipment France 311

03/2019 Specialist in innovative beverage dispensing solutions Italy 130

12/2018 Laboratory of natural therapies Belgium 100

11/2018 Specialty pharmaceutical company Italy 176

04/2018 Producer of ingredients derived from plant-based chemistry France 570

02/2018 Frozen bread and bakery producer and distributor Spain 321

02/2018 Broker of smartphone and multimedia insurance France 365

09/2017 Engineering services provider France 1,085

04/2017 Fresh food specialty retail France 1,569

03/2017 Pharmaceutical CDMO France 319

01/2017 Lighting of residential and commercial spaces Germany 218

12/2016 Automobile subcontractors Germany –

10/2016 Biosafety, disinfection and hygiene solutions France 243

07/2016 Medical communication software United Kingdom 132

07/2016 Healthcare software Italy 207

06/2016 Inspection & quality control services France 436

04/2016 Audio equipment manufacturers Germany 171

12/2015 Food ingredient mixes France 433

05/2015 Brokerage and consulting services France 430

01/2014 Helicopter transport Belgium 165

10/2011 Industrial group specializing in photo-sensor technology France 143

07/2010 Online travel agency France 533

03/2010 Teleshopping group Germany 810

04/2008 Gaming arcades operator Germany 285

Bui ld-ups

Agfa Heal thcare IT (Dedalus)

Date of build-up: Dec. 2019Sector: Healthcare sof tware

Dedalus, a leading European provider of healthcare software primarily for use in hospitals, acquired part of Agfa-Gevaert’s healthcare software business. The enlarged group is the European leader in this sector, dominating the Italian, French and German markets, and has a presence in more than 30 countries.

Choisy (Kersia)

Date of build-up: July 2019Sector: Disinfect ion solut ions

Kersia, the global leader in food safety, acquired Choisy Laboratories, a leading developer and manufacturer of chemical, biotechnological and biosecurity hygiene solutions, based in Canada. This is Kersia’s fifth strategic acquisition since Ardian invested in the company in October 2016.

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E x i t g a i n s d e m o n s t r a t e p o w e r f u l v a l u e c r e a t i o n

FRANÇOIS JERPHAGNON Head of Ardian Expansion

The Expansion team partners with talented and ambitious managements to accelerate their international growth plans. In recent years, the team has enjoyed consistent success by focusing on fast-growing businesses with high margins and helping them develop pragmatic, tailored strategies to create sustainable value. Despite intense competition in 2019, the teamhas continued to deploy Expansion Fund IV while maintaining its disciplined investment strategy. Ardian Expansion aims to build strong, trusted partnerships with entrepreneurs to pursue shared objectives, as demonstrated by its two investments during 2019, Saal Digital and Nutripack. The team focused on a group of targets where its international presence and hands-on buy-and-build approach could create value and transform these companies, adding a further engine of growth to their rapid organic expansion.

The majority of Fund IV was invested by the end of 2019 and is showing double-digit organic revenue growth across the portfolio. During 2019, the team took advantage of buoyant market conditions to exit three companies with significant value created, including the second exit from Fund IV, CCC.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ardian Expansion has worked closely with the management teams of its portfolio companies to address key challenges, including the safety of their employees and the liquidity position, as well as identifying opportunities arising from this crisis.

“On average we have known each management team for three years before we invest. The understanding we build with them is the key to our success.”

Expansion

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bui ld-ups completed and 59 investments s ince incept ion

114

26investment

professionals

€50M to

€300M

6 6 67

I n conversa t ion w i th CLS

The par tnersh ip tha t bu i l t a wor ldwide l eader in sa t e l l i t e da ta ana ly t i c s

CHRISTOPHE VASSAL CEO of CLS

CAROLINE PIHAN Director at Ardian Expansion

Christophe Vassal: We originally decided to work with Ardian back in 2013 because when we met them they had done their homework and understood our business, which is to analyze satellite data for geographic areas such as climate-change, biodiversity and fishery management. As an institutional investor and with its international presence, Ardian was a very reassuring presence for our main shareholder, the French space agency CNES, as they had never accepted a private equity company as a partner before.

Caroline Pihan: When we discovered CLS, we were actually looking at one of their suppliers, but we immediately became very interested. They had long-serving employees with huge technological expertise, and they were leaders in several fast growing niche markets with high barriers to entry. But we could see they needed to accelerate their external growth strategy, and we knew we could help.

C.V.: We had already done five small acquisitions, but they recommended we should accelerate and target larger companies to increase our footprint outside Europe. We started talks with Horizon Marine and Woods Hole Group in the US right after Ardian invested and we also approached TRE in Italy. Ardian’s financial means and expertise were essential. Our main shareholder was very strong strategically and technically but they did not have the money for us to invest in larger acquisitions nor the financial expertise to evaluate deals and

do the due diligence. The advantage of having Ardian with us was that they would challenge us in areas where CNES would not, like our financial assessment of the companies we looked at.

C.P.: We developed a very productive and trusting relationship with Christophe and his team because they have always been very open-minded and willing to listen to our suggestions. That allowed us to make a lot of progress together. We brought different skills to the partnership focusing on areas like financial reporting and acquisitions that are not so common in public-sector organizations.

C.V.: That’s true. Our processes were very basic before they invested, so they’ve helped us tremendously with our financial reporting and in strengthening our finance team. Another major change we owe to them is our focus today on sustainability and social responsibility. Even though our business is to protect the environment and the earth’s resources, we had not formalized our company policy on social and environmental responsibility. With the aid of several consultants, Ardian helped us to address certain issues and explain our mission as a company more clearly. That was an Ardian initiative.

C.P.: Obviously we wanted to help Christophe and his team expand the company and become more financially successful, but another major attraction was CLS’s role in areas like environmental protection and climate monitoring. This was very much in line with our focus on sustainability across all our activities. This has become a central part of our mission over the past 20 years and in CLS, we found a company that was perfectly aligned with our agenda and one with whom we could collaborate to carry it forward.

C.V.: I think we really saw the quality of our relationship with Ardian in 2016 and 2017. We had reached a point where we felt we needed to change things internally and transform ourselves to meet growing competition and accelerate innovation. Satellites are global and so are our customers’ needs. We needed to get closer to them and become more agile. We reorganized into five divisions addressing specific markets and we invested in our offices to create a nicer environment for our people. We couldn’t be sure our plan would work, and a lot of other investors might have walked away, but Ardian supported us. Although the changes we made had a short-term negative impact on our figures, they ultimately worked and the past two years have been very rewarding.

C.P.: When Christophe told us it was time to rethink the organization and take a more commercial approach, it was obviously a risk for us, but we trusted his judgment. Christophe and his team implemented the new structure very effectively and that led to the excellent performance we saw in 2018 and 2019. Overall, this was really the perfect investment for us because the company was very strong on the technology side, its markets were fast growing, and we were able to contribute other skills and to support a buy-and-build strategy that created a lot of value. It was a very complementary relationship with a lot of trust on both sides.

Provider of location and data collection

satellites

5build-ups under

Ardian investment

720employees in

26 offices covering 198 countries

€130Min turnover

vs. €90 million at investment

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E XPA NS I O N P O RTFO L I O

CENTR A L & E ASTERN EU RO PE P O RTFO L I O


02/2020 Manufacturer of packaging for the food industry France 159

11/2019 Online platform and manufacturer of premium photo products Germany 42

01/2019 Specialist in new technology consulting France 131

10/2018 Integrated one-stop-shop ICT provider for SMEs Belgium 29

10/2018 Breakdown coverage and roadside assistance solutions France 192

07/2018 Supplier of tinting machines for point of sales Italy 91

12/2017 Builder of single homes France 220

09/2017Manufacturer of machine systems for the dental and manufacturing industry

Germany 46

12/2016 Laser systems for eye surgeries Germany 48

09/2016 Orthopedic equipment France 98

04/2016 NFC contactless access control systems Austria 70

02/2016 Business Process Outsourcing (HR/Finance) Italy 63

07/2015 E-commerce retailer Germany 217

06/2015 Automotive components manufacturer Italy 35

12/2013 Contract Development Manufacturing Organization France 142


12/2016 Distributor and supplier of tires and wheels, fleet servicing Hungary 87

12/2015 Animal food manufacturer Poland 133

02/2014 Fitness clubs Romania 33

05/2011 Fiber broadband internet, cable TV and IPTV service provider Latvia 18

02/2011 Manufacturer and distributor of agrifood products Poland 38

Investments

F2A

Date of investment: Feb. 2016Number of build-ups: Two build-ups in 2019Sector: Business Process Outsourcing

F2A is a leading Italian provider of outsourced Human Resources and financial administration services, helping its clients manage critical but non-core corporate processes. In 2019, F2A completed two acquisitions to strengthen its position in Italy and increase its software capabilities.

Ionisos

Date of investment: Jul. 2016Date of exit : Sept. 2019Sector: Cold steri l ization services

Ardian has sold its stake in Ionisos to 3i Infrastructure. During the investment period, Ionisos almost doubled its revenues thanks to strong organic development and a dynamic external growth strategy. After completing five acquisitions in different European countries, it now generates half its turnover outside France, compared with 10% when Ardian invested.

Lagarr igue

Date of investment: Sept. 2016Number of build-ups: Seven build-ups in 2019Sector: Orthopedic equipment

Lagarrigue is a leading French manufacturer of orthopedic equipment. With Ardian’s support, the group completed seven build-ups in 2019, bringing the total to 21 in France. It has replicated its successful strategy in Switzerland since 2016.

Saal Digi tal

Date of investment: Nov. 2019Sector: Online plat form and manufacturer of premium photo products

Saal Digital is a German manufacturer of high-end photographic products including photo books and prints. Working alongside existing shareholders Nordwind Capital and the Saal family, Ardian will support the company’s plans to expand its e-commerce operations across Europe and beyond.

Nutr ipack

Date of investment: Dec. 2019 (signing)Sector: Packaging for food industry

Nutripack is a leading European manufacturer of packaging, offering both traditional packaging under the Nutripack brand as well as eco-friendly solutions under the Ecocup brand. Ardian will support the group’s accelerated expansion plans and the roll-out of its eco-friendly packaging offer.

CCC

Date of investment: Jan. 2018Date of exit : Dec. 2019 (signing) Sector: Business Process Outsourcing

One of the largest Canadian telecom providers, Telus Corp. has acquired the Berlin-based call center and digital services provider CCC from Ardian Expansion. The team had already accompanied CCC from 2009 to 2013. Thanks to its longstanding relationship with the company’s management, Ardian Expansion invested again in CCC in January 2018. During this investment period, CCC more than doubled its size, increasing its headcount by more than 3,000 to 8,500 and opening four new locations.

Exits

CLS

Date of investment: Dec. 2013Date of exit : Dec. 2019 (signing)Sector: Data analy t ics services for Earth observation

Ardian has sold its stake in CLS to CNP. Over the past six years and with the help of Ardian, the company has completed five acquisitions, significantly expanding its international operations, and has created Kinéis, the first European constellation of nanosatellites. During Ardian’s investment, the group grew from 500 employees to 720 and doubled its profits.


Build-ups

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B u i l d i n g c o n t i n e n t a l E u r o p e ’ s l e a d i n g G r o w t h e q u i t y p l a t f o r m

LAURENT FOATA Head of Ardian Growth

Ardian Growth is pursuing the next stage of its development, expanding its reach across Continental Europe as it deploys its €243 million second-generation fund.

Alongside its core territories of France and Italy, the team is now active in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland. These relatively less challenging growth equity markets offer a major opportunity to capitalize on Ardian’s close cultural fit with European entrepreneurs and its growing origination capacity.

The ability to invest in larger companies through Growth Fund II – focusing on areas such as online marketing, e-commerce, software development and IT services – is now supported by a dedicated online data and intelligence gathering operation, managed by a full-time data analyst. This is generating a strong flow of proprietary opportunities among fast-growing private companies. Their founders repeatedly choose to work with Ardian Growth, thanks to its record of executing follow-on acquisitions and accelerating its portfolio companies’ international growth.

The team’s reputation for helping Continental European companies expand into the US received major validation in 2019 when Ivalua, which specializes in procurement software, achieved a valuation of more than $1 billion in its most recent funding round.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the team helped its portfolio companies address immediate priorities and develop a longer-term response. Ardian Growth's key aims are to adapt to the restrictions on activity, reinforce liquidity and prepare them for a more offensive stance when conditions return to normal.

“European companies now have great credibility in the US, especially in software, and their entrepreneurs are now aware that we can really help them scale up.”

Grow th

100+

investments s ince 1998

por tfol io companies’

founders re located

to the US to lead growth

6

average year -over -year revenue growth across por t fol io

20%

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I n conversa t ion w i th I va lua

The par tnersh ip behind Ard ian Grow th’s f i r s t $1 b i l l ion company

David Khuat-Duy: We set up Ivalua just over 20 years ago, based in a Paris suburb. For the first decade, we developed the technology platform and grew organically, while always operating profitably. In 2010-11, we decided it was time to expand internationally. We had met Ardian and got to know the team a few years before so when the time came, they already knew the potential of our product and the management team. What we liked about Laurent and the team was the fact that they were listening to us and understood us, because they had been following us for all those years.

Laurent Foata: Our approach to Ivalua is representative of the way Ardian Growth operates. We try to identify companies with strong potential in the digital space, early on in their growth journey. We came across Ivalua in 2008 at a trade fair and first met David later that year. Back then it was a small company with about 30 people, but we were impressed by David’s vision for e-procurement and e-sourcing, and amazed by the product which had a very large spectrum of functionalities. They needed to accelerate their sales strategy, and we invested to help them to launch in the US. It was ambitious, but we knew the US was key to the evolution of the e-procurement software market.

D.K.D.: It took us time to gain traction. Dan Amzallag, CEO of Ivalua Inc., moved to the US in 2011 to start the process and the first two years were like “crossing the desert” while we tested the market.

We were a small, virtually unknown French company, and the US was just starting to see interest in our product. In 2013, I also moved to the US with my family, and over the following years we managed to increase the pace of growth. By 2017, our US top line was at the level of our European top line. KKR invested in 2017 on the back of this success. This allowed us to invest more money and expand across Asia and in Europe. We raised more money in 2019 and since then we’ve recruited a lot of new people. We’re 600 employees now and we’re developing solutions specific to different industries, to strengthen our position on the market. We have a very good product and we operate in a deep market, so the potential over the next few years is clear.

L.F.: Going to the US was a major step. Since David and Dan moved to the US, it was key to build a strong team to drive the European operation forwards. As a minority investor, we played a supporting role, but David and Dan had to find the people and help them develop. When you look back now, it seems a natural process but in reality, a very ambitious growth project like this has plenty of difficult moments. David and Dan’s ability to reinvent and challenge themselves constantly and to trust and rely on people like us on key issues enabled the team to move forward and overcome its challenges.

D.K.D.: Laurent and Geoffroy de La Grandière, Director at Ardian Growth, sit on our board and they have guided us through the different stages of growth and the difficulties we faced. They also used their network to bring in Pierre Demonsant from Planisware, a global provider of software solutions for project portfolio management, as a non-executive. He has great experience and has really supported us along the way. Laurent also helped us with some of our people issues;

he has strong intuition which made a big difference at certain points. You have to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the management team and know when to add new skills.

L.F.: Understanding the realities on the ground is important. We support our companies in every way we can, and we always try to ensure they benefit from the experiences of all the other entrepreneurs we have partnered with through Ardian Growth. The interesting thing in Ivalua’s case is that the company has achieved great success while taking its time to build a very rich product, always focusing on its long-term vision of how the business should develop. This is quite rare in the software world. It has been a pleasure to support the company but the credit goes to them – it’s amazing to go from a small European player to the top three globally. What makes the difference is the ability to create a team from scratch. You can’t model this – it’s entrepreneurial magic that happens in an impressionistic, iterative way every day. Sustained effort, resilience and the ability to reinvent yourself: this is the DNA of entrepreneurs.

DAVID KHUAT-DUY Founder and CEO of Ivalua

LAURENT FOATA Head of Ardian Growth

Publisher in the e-buying solutions as well as Sustainable

Development markets

98%+

industry-leading customer retention

rate

300leading companies

empowered by Ivalua’s solutions

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Investments Ivalua

Date of investment: Apr. 2019Sector: Procurement sof tware

Ivalua, a leading global provider of cloud-based spend management solutions, has raised $60 million in growth equity funding from Ardian and Tiger Global Management to further accelerate its rapid growth. This capital raise values the company at more than $1 billion, making Ivalua one of only a handful of profitable ‘unicorns’ founded in France.

Rival is

Date of investment: Mar. 2019Sector: Consult ing

Rivalis is a leading French executive support network. The company supports executives of micro-businesses, craftsmen and SMEs in France with its network of 500 independent advisers. Rivalis also offers its 17,500 users long-term support and expert advice to help them improve the performance of their companies.

S&H

Date of investment: Dec. 2019Sector: Consult ing

Ardian Growth took a stake in S&H, a consultancy that specializes in modernizing HR and finance support functions. It has more than 250 employees and revenues of more than €30 million. S&H has carried out more than 2,000 engagements with large and medium-sized companies over more than 30 years.

Uptoo

Date of investment: June 2019Sector: Recruitment plat form

Ardian Growth took a stake in Uptoo. Since 2009, the company has established itself as a leading recruiter of sales reps and managers in France. Uptoo has more than 3,500 clients across multiple sectors, ranging from companies listed on the CAC 40 to SMEs and start-ups.

Optimind

Date of investment: Jan. 2019Sector: Consult ing

Optimind is an independent consulting firm that provides support to insurers, banks and corporate clients through its expertise in qualitative, quantitative and administrative risk management solutions. Optimind has more than 200 highly-skilled employees, primarily serving blue chip clients.

GROW TH P O RTFO L I O

Company Invest. date Act iv i t y Count r y

12/2019 Consulting in HR and finance France

06/2019 Recruitment platform France

04/2019 Publisher in e-buying solutions as well as Sustainable Development markets France

03/2019 SaaS software publisher specialized in multichannel customer relations management France

03/2019 Management solutions for microenterprises France

01/2019 Consulting firm for strategy definition, risk handling and transformation France

09/2018 Merchandising software publisher France

08/2018 Project portfolio management software France

07/2018 Digital consulting and e-commerce delegation platform Italy

07/2018Online platform that offers maintenance supervision and repair services for the fleet management sector.

Spain

07/2018 Outsourcing of marketing services France

06/2017 Marketing e-mail software editor France

04/2017 Online parapharmacy France

04/2017 Spanish digital agency Spain

03/2017 Software and IT for architects France

07/2016 Comparison service France

04/2016 Mobile programmatic buying agency France

12/2015 Windev software: development software for IS architecture France

12/2015 Cloud digital agency France

07/2015 Private sales of DIY and gardening tools France

05/2015 Self check-in/check-out solutions in hotels France

12/2014 Customer service/support in digital technologies France

12/2014 Software editor for telecom supervision France

05/2014 Web and cloud hosting solutions France

05/2014 Load-testing software editor for web or mobile apps France

10/2012 On-line travel agency Italy

Eloquant

Date of investment: Mar. 2019Sector: Sof tware publisher

Eloquant is a SaaS publisher specializing in multichannel customer relationship management. Its software manages customer interactions and feedback across telephone, email, chat and social media through a single tool.

HR Path

Date of investment: June 2015Date of exit : Apr. 2019Sector: Human Resources Consult ing and BPO

HR Path is a specialist in consulting, software integration and the outsourcing of HR functions for large companies. After an initial investment in 2015, Ardian Growth reinvested in 2017 to support the company’s growth strategy and accelerate its international development. HR Path is now established as a major independent player with sales in excess of €100 million.

Exit


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G r o w t h o p p o r t u n i t i e s i n m i d - m a r k e t i n d u s t r i a l N o r t h - A m e r i c a n c o m p a n i e s

A rd ian Nor th Amer ica Fund

VINCENT FANDOZZI Head of Ardian North America Fund

Ardian North America Fund completed its third transaction in September 2019 with the purchase of Colonial Bag, a family-owned manufacturer of plastic waste liners mainly serving the medical and sanitation markets in the Midwest. The team plans to make several further acquisitions of regional players to create Soteria Flexibles, a group of flexible plastic products makers that will have national coverage, serving specialist end-markets.

The two existing portfolio companies, HDT Automotive and Revere Plastics, have both reinforced their trend of improving operational performance since their purchase by Ardian. HDT significantly strengthened its management team and achieved a sustained improvement in performance at its Canadian plant. Revere Plastics, which makes molded plastic components, successfully integrated Sure-Flo, acquired in December 2018, and is in advanced discussions on several further bolt-on acquisitions.

The team has a healthy pipeline of opportunities among mid-market industrial and business services companies thanks to its disciplined approach to the screening of new potential investments.

The team moved quickly after the outbreak of COVID-19 to ensure portfolio companies could continue to operate safely and to preserve liquidity. It is in close contact with management teams, focusing on safety, operational efficiency and potential new business opportunities.

$10M to

$50MEbidta of targeted

companies

investment professionals

9

“We’ve strengthened the management teams at our portfolio companies and we’re seeing an improving performance trend across the board.”

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Vincent Fandozzi: We’d been developing the base for behind Soteria Flexibles for a couple of years and in September 2019, we put the first major building block in place by making a substantial investment in Colonial Bag, a family-owned company based outside Chicago. Colonial is in the “flexible products” business, manufacturing plastic liners for specialized uses, such as medical waste. These clients want customized products in relatively small volumes and it’s a market that the biggest players in the industry are not set up to address – their business is making standardized products in very large volumes, so it’s just not efficient for them to serve our customers.

Todd Welsch: Despite the consolidation in the flexibles market – or perhaps because of it – there’s a real need for quality producers in our segment. The big opportunity we see is to bring together a national group of three or four regional suppliers like Colonial Bag covering multiple geographic areas, so that we can serve regional and national customers efficiently while maintaining quality. Soteria Flexibles will be the holding company for that group.

Brad Herbolsheimer: Colonial Bag gives us a great start in building Soteria. I came in while the deal was in due diligence and when I looked at the company closely, I found a great combination of high-quality end markets with a strong recurring demand and longstanding, passionate employees who have a customer-first mindset. We want

to replicate that across the country. By bringing several independents together under the Soteria umbrella, we can keep that high-touch approach to customers in different regions but really build national scale behind the scenes.

V.F.: Investing in the right initial asset was key but it took a long time to close this transaction, largely because it was a proprietary deal with no advisers involved. We were introduced to the owner by a mutual contact and he was typical of many small business owners in the US in that he’d started Colonial more than 40 years ago and grown it to a very nice size. He is now in his 80s and didn’t have a clear family succession plan. So part of the opportunity for us was to provide that succession plan and bring in Brad to transition Colonial from a family-owned entity to an institutionally — managed company.

T.W.: It took almost a year to get the investment done, mainly because a lot of the information that we needed to do the due diligence just wasn’t available. We had to help assemble it and often explain why we needed it – without intermediaries and advisers pushing the process forward, educating the seller was part of our job as the buyer.

B.H.: It was definitely a challenging process but now that we’re able to start work on the next phase, the opportunities are huge. One common feature of businesses like Colonial is that they have excellent customer relationships but often haven’t been managed to maximize productivity and profit. We have a very strong demand from existing customers and now that we’re working to increase productivity, we expect earnings to grow rapidly. We’ve already identified ways to increase output from the existing plant very

significantly, just by optimizing the way we operate and by making some small additional investments. And then longer-term, once we add further businesses like Colonial Bag to the group, we can sell our existing products to more customers across the country and move into other product areas. With very little modification to what we do, with our same distributor base, our same way of working, we can move to another place on the chessboard.

V.F.: This is an important investment for us – not just because it is our first step in building a national group that will address a profitable, underserved market, but also because it says a lot about our approach as a fund. Not everyone is willing to roll up their sleeves and take on a more difficult process like this one because it’s an investment of time and money, and our time is a valuable resource. Investing that time is a calculated risk but the outcome is that we’ve ended up with a ton of opportunity to grow the business – and it’s only strengthened the base behind Soteria.

I n conversa t ion wi th So t e r ia F lex ib les

Firs t s t eps in bu i ld ing a na t iona l f l ex ib le p roduc t s group

VINCENT FANDOZZI Head of Ardian North America Fund

TODD WELSCH Director at Ardian North America Fund

BRAD HERBOLSHEIMER CEO of Soteria Flexibles

Manufacturer of flexible plastic

packaging

2plants

spanning over

90,000 sq ft near

Chicago, IL

16extrusion lines

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G i v i n g L P s a c c e s s t o t h e w o r l d ’ s t o p p r i v a t e e q u i t y s p o n s o r s

ALEXANDRE MOTTE Head of Ardian Co-Investment

PATRICK KOCSIHead of US Co-Investments

With the strong support of three membersof the Executive Committee: BENOÎT VERBRUGGHE,MARK BENEDETTI and VLADIMIR COLAS

Co-investment has moved decisively into the mainstream in recent years, attracting growing interest from both LPs and sponsors. Ardian’s long experience in this strategy and strong industry relationships position it at the center of this accelerating trend. Most transactions involve Ardian Co-Investment team taking passive, minority stakes in European, US or Asian buyouts alongside leading GPs. However, in some cases, the team plays an active role in the company’s development, taking a seat in the boardroom alongside a strategic investor, controlling family or private equity sponsor.

At $2.5 billion, the fif th-generation co-investment fund can make significantly more – and larger – commitments than previous funds, as witnessed by last year’s $125 million investment in US fibre-optics company Zayo, its biggest transaction to date. This was one of 15 investments by the teams based in Paris and New York, which also included the first commitments alongside Asian GPs. Ardian Co-Investment also provided further funding to support three follow-on acquisitions.

Ardian’s ability to move quickly and bring value to transactions through its sector expertise and global network of contacts has reinforced its reputation as a co-investment specialist. This has led to much greater deal flow, although the teams remain extremely selective, targeting resilient companies that are first or second in their markets and can show a strong history of earnings growth.

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, the Co-Investment team is monitoring the situation of its companies closely alongside its lead-sponsors. Its focus on quality and diversification has cushioned the impact, although the team inevitably has some exposure to sectors that are more affected.

“We are a preferred co-investor in top-quality deals because we make decisions quickly and use our global network to add value during due diligence and the holding period.”

Co - Inves tment

29investment

professionals

raised for Co-Investment

Fund V

$2.5Bn

investments in 2019

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I n conversa t ion wi th Ard ian Co- Inves tment

H ow do es A rd ian sup p o r t sp onso r s and comp an i e s t o c r e a t e va l u e?

Alexandre Motte: I think one of our major advantages as a co-investor is our ability to use Ardian’s expertise and networks to add value for sponsors and portfolio companies. The Emera deal is a great example as we bring a lot of expertise that complements what Naxicap can offer. This includes access to our international office network, especially in Italy and Spain, as well as France, to help source M&A opportunities and accelerate Emera’s international expansion. Further expertise is available thanks to input from Ardian’s digital officer, who helps with the digital transformation of all our portfolio companies. We have also started to discuss partnerships and business development opportunities with other Ardian portfolio companies. In addition, as improving ESG performance is key to the value creation plan, we will give Emera access to our specialist Sustainability team.

Patrick Kocsi: We can also make a difference in the pre-signing phase, which can be key in some cases. In the Lindfast deal, it was our ability to react that gave us an edge, as well as our scope to invest larger tickets through Fund V. We already knew Nautic Partners well through our Fund of Funds relationship, so we knew they had a strong track record in the sector. However, this was a large deal for them so they wanted a partner to come in alongside them to bid on the asset. Nautic approached us early in the process and we did our due diligence alongside them. Our ability to speak for a sizeable portion of the equity at signing became a critical component of securing the deal for the sponsor.

A.M.: We had a similar situation with Palacios in Spain and Emera in France. These were larger transactions and again our ability to underwrite 30% to 50% of the equity investment was a big factor for the sponsor. Our longstanding Fund of Funds relationship with MCH and Naxicap was also important. But most of all, Ardian’s experience and knowledge of the food, agribusiness and healthcare sectors were key, because it allowed us to complete our due diligence quickly and also because the management teams recognized the value our network in these sectors could bring for their business. So having Ardian on board as a co-investor helped the sponsors differentiate from other bidders and win the deal in a very competitive process.

P.K.: People often think of co-investment as a passive investment alongside the main sponsor, but in instances where we can add real value, we often get much more actively involved. We have a board seat at Lindfast, so we are speaking to the CEO and Nautic Partners regularly and supporting them wherever we can.

A.M.: Yes, it is the same with Palacios and Emera. We are happy to play an active role in the boardroom to support the company and the lead sponsor. For example, with Emera, Antoine Lencou-Barême, Managing Director at Ardian in charge of the transaction, has known the CEO for more than twenty years, and we are also partnering with the company’s founder, who re-invested in the buyout, so there is a very strong set of relationships around the table. With both Emera and Palacios, we have started to play a very active role in executing the value creation plan, especially in areas like digital transformation, which is becoming a huge issue in the healthcare sector. With Palacios, we are focusing our effort on accelerating international expansion by leveraging our connections to enhance organic growth, particularly in France. We are also actively sourcing

and screening M&A opportunities in Europe and the US. We are ready to move quickly and help provide the financial support Palacios needs to take advantage of major opportunities.

P.K.: It is important to work closely with the lead sponsor and help them execute the value creation plan in whatever way we can. Contributing directly to the governance of the company aids that process because it helps us to maximize the contribution we can make. There is a lot Ardian can bring to a co-investment situation.

ALEXANDRE MOTTE Head of Ardian Co-Investment

PATRICK KOCSIHead of US Co-Investments

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”Ardian has been an invaluable resource to Nautic and LindFast, and we are grateful for the continuing relationship.“

BILL NIKETAS CEO of Lindfast

Investment date: Apr. 2019Sector: Industrial fastenersHQ: Minnesota, USSponsor: Nautic PartnersArdian representative: Faruk Amin, Managing Director, New York, US

”As of the due diligence phase, we identified Ardian as a future shareholder capable of contributing significantly to Emera’s development.“

ERIC BAUGAS CEO of Emera

Investment date: Dec. 2019Sector: Nursing HomesHQ: Mougins, FranceSponsor: NaxicapArdian representative: Antoine Lencou-Barême, Managing Director, Paris, France

”Ardian participated in the acquisition process as of the first meeting and its presence and commitment to the deal guaranteed its success.“

PEDRO DOMINGUEZ CEO of Palacios

Investment date: July 2019Sector: Food ProductsHQ: La Rioja, SpainSponsor: MCHArdian representative: Carole Barnay, Senior Managing Director, Paris, France

8 4 85

Investments

Trade Me

Date of investment: May 2019Sector: MarketplaceLead sponsor: Apax Partners

Galderma

Date of investment: Sept. 2019Sector: Dermatology Lead sponsor: EQT Partners

L indfast Solut ions Group

Date of investment: Apr. 2019Sector: Specialt y fastenersLead sponsor: Nautic Partners

Insight Global

Date of investment: Sept. 2019Sector: Recruitment Lead sponsor: Harvest Partners

Emera

Date of investment: Dec. 2019Sector: Nursing homes Other shareholders: Naxicap, Claude Cheton (founder) Palacios

Date of investment: July 2019Sector: Food manufacturer Lead sponsor: MCH Private Equity BrandSafway

Date of investment: Dec. 2019 (signing)Sector: Scaf folding and industrial services Lead sponsor: Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

CO - I NVESTM ENT P O RTFO L I OCompany Invest. date Act iv i t y Count r y 2019 est imated

revenues (€M)

03/2020 Communications infrastructure services United States 2,314

01/2020 Distributor of medical devices to hospitals Spain 186

01/2020 Scaffolding and industrial services United States 4,729

01/2020 Non-food discount retailer Netherlands 5,114

Project Lounge 12/2019 Airport benefits access provider China 191

12/2019 Nursing home operator France 245

Project Classified 11/2019 Media conglomerate Germany 3,112

11/2019 Platform and producer of high-end photo products Germany 42

09/2019 Staffing & employment solutions provider United States 2,119

09/2019 Dermatological treatments and skin care products Switzerland 2,748

07/2019 Food and ready meals manufacturer Spain 232

05/2019 Auction website for autos, properties and jobs New Zealand 162

04/2019 High-touch specialty fasteners for industrial parts distributors United States 226

04/2019 Entertainment industry solutions for accounting and human resources United States 284

03/2019 Linux operating systems for enterprises Germany 363

01/2019 Leading e-commerce service provider China 275

Project Credit Report 01/2019 Commercial credit data provider United States 1,569

12/2018 Third-party claims management and property loss adjusting services United States 3,258

09/2018 Manufacturer of natural and clean label food ingredients United States 80

05/2018 Regulatory compliance consultancy United States 174

05/2018 Skincare brand United States 1,171

05/2018 Industrial engineering group France 1,999

03/2018 Traffic safety services providerGermanySwedenUnited Kingdom

379

Project Home Care 02/2018 Nursing home operator Germany 775

01/2018 Airport ground support material France 684

12/2017 Human resource services United States 278

11/2017 Mobile water treatment provider United States 34

10/2017 Security systems & solutions United Kingdom 307

02/2017 Caravan holiday park operator United Kingdom 556

02/2017 Business process outsourcing services for the US freight industry United States 1,085

01/2017 E-commerce platform Poland 641

11/2016 Flexible packaging manufacturer United States 1,232

08/2016 Cloud services for mid-size companies United States 111

08/2016 Industrial cleaning services United States 169

06/2016 Pharmaceutical synthesis and specialty ingredients France 973

06/2016 Healthcare cost management solutions United States 876

06/2016 Nuclear measurement equipment and services United States 412

03/2016 Medication management and mail-order pharmacy United States 252

03/2016 Vehicle leasing and fleet management services Netherlands 1,538

02/2016 Rural retailer United States 1,528

12/2015 Food ingredient solutions France 433

04/2015 Designer and manufacturer of custom rechargeable power systems United States 302

04/2015 Provider of air medical services United States 4,095

03/2015 Provider of pet products and services United States 9,916

03/2015 Manufacturer of aseptic packaging systems Switzerland 1,784

06/2014 Manufacturer of automotive and industrial belts and hoses United States 2,757

03/2014 Publisher of business management and e-commerce software United States 223

12/2013 Manufacturer of generic pharmaceutical products Switzerland 360

11/2012 Engineering services and products to oil companies United Kingdom 541

01/2012 Windows and doors manufacturer United States 3,831

07/2011 Online travel agency France 533

12/2007 Life insurance Korea 7,890


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I n f ras t ruc tureA d d r e s s i n g c l i m a t e c h a n g e w i t h m a j o r i n v e s t m e n t i n r e n e w a b l e s

MATHIAS BURGHARDT Head of Ardian Infrastructure and Member of the Executive Committee

Ardian Infrastructure confirmed its strong reputation among investors during 2019, raising €6.1 billion for Fund V in just six months. This is the largest European infrastructure fund ever raised and the largest direct fund Ardian has closed to date, more than doubling the size of Fund IV. The team finished 2019 with another important milestone, sealing Ardian’s first infrastructure deal in Germany by acquiring a 26% stake in EWE, the country’s fif th largest integrated utility company.

Investment activity during 2019 focused heavily on renewable energy assets in Northern and Southern Europe and in the US. Renewables now account for around 50% of global deal flow. Ardian is emerging as a major industrial player in this sector, thanks to its operational expertise and its embrace of data analysis and digital technologies to enhance the productivity and performance of its assets.

Ardian is convinced that the ability to generate growth while reducing carbon emissions will determine which infrastructure assets – and investment managers – generate sustainable value in the future. The team is now monitoring carbon emissions in every portfolio company and is supporting management companies to reduce them.

Despite the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team is confident in the resilience and defensive nature of the portfolio, which is made up of essential infrastructure assets run by highly skilled management teams with moderate leverage.

“The speed and size of our latest fundraising underlines Ardian’s reputation in this asset class among global investors.”

45investments s ince 2005

team members in charge of

digi tal and data management

4

green energy

3.5 gw

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I n conversa t ion w i th SEA Mi lan A irpor t s

Armando Brunini: Milan is one of the most economically important cities in Europe with a growth rate – before the COVID-19 crisis – that was above the Italian average. Our mission as operators of Linate and Malpensa airports is to support the prosperity of this region, but Milan is in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and consequently our airports are facing the most challenging crisis in their history. COVID-19 is a “war” that the whole world is fighting but undoubtedly the transport industry is particularly exposed.

Mathias Burghardt: Ardian supported the management team at SEA who reacted immediately, creating a Crisis Management team which is coordinating both short-term actions and the medium-term response. SEA rightly made their top priority safeguarding the health of staff and passengers in every way they could.

A.B.: We have also acted swiftly to reduce costs and defend our cash position, which is strong. We are in the process of setting scenarios for both the “new normal” that our industry will move into, and the transition phase. To adapt we will need to be as flexible as possible to minimize the negative impact, but also to capture the opportunities that emerge from every crisis.

M.B.: Airports are essential for economies to function and grow, but even before COVID-19 they were facing huge challenges due to the urgent need to address climate change. As we stabilize and transition to the “new normal” for air travel, we must remain firmly focused on our commitment

to achieving environmentally and socially sustainable growth. This means finding ways to greatly reduce our carbon emissions while still allowing our airports to grow. We have recently launched our Air Carbon website, which produces an estimate of the amount of carbon emissions from any airport in real time. It has shown that around 30% of emissions comes from the transport people use to travel to and from the airport, and more than 60% is from aircraft during take-off and landing. Less than 10% comes from the infrastructure itself, but as airport owners, our duty is to work on the 90% we cannot directly control.

A.B.: This is our fundamental plan for these airports for the future. Unless we can reduce emissions from those areas not directly under our control, achieving the kinds of reductions that are needed will be impossible. We’re collaborating with the city authorities to improve the express train link to Malpensa and we’re investing alongside the train company to market the service. That will mean less income from parking for the airport operator, but we must shift the balance from cars to public transport. We must all be aware of our corporate responsibilities in helping to reduce emissions. Malpensa is a big site with plenty of capacity to grow – unless we can demonstrate real progress on sustainability, we will not be able to make the most of that opportunity.

M.B.: It’s the same for all our assets and this is why we’re now setting non-financial targets for all our portfolio companies,

including for carbon efficiency and reducing emissions. Firstly, because we believe it’s our duty, and secondly, because I think companies that are not carbon-efficient will be obsolete within a few years. No one will want to invest in them.

A.B.: To reduce aircraft emissions, we are replicating an initiative Ardian put in place during its ownership of London Luton Airport, offering lower fees for newer aircraft that are quieter and emit less CO2. And in terms of the infrastructure itself, we can use digital systems and biometrics to beat the queues and create a passenger experience as seamless as possible. All these measures will improve productivity, lower costs and make the business more energy efficient. SEA Milan Airports is resilient and the enduring strengths of the city and region we serve will ultimately give us competitive advantages and support us in moving back to growth.

M.B.: The airport can’t make all these changes by itself, but it can collaborate with stakeholders actively. Our vision of airports is that they’re not just isolated assets. We have to contribute to a region and maintain a dialogue with local authorities, neighbors and all stakeholders around the airport. We want to be partners.

Seek ing a “new normal” fo r our indus t r y t hrough long- t e rm co l labora t ion

ARMANDO BRUNINI CEO of SEA Milan Airports

MATHIAS BURGHARDT Head of Ardian Infrastructure and Member of the Executive Committee

Operator of Milan airports: Linate (city airport), Malpensa T1

(international gateway) and Malpensa T2

(smart airport)

3attractive,

individually designed terminals

NEXT 5 YEARS

of growth based on service quality, traffic development, digital

transformation, engaging passengers,

sustainability

HIGHEST RATING

in Europe in terms of carbon emissions

containment

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Investments

Tunels Barce lona Cadi

Date of investment: May 2015Date of exit : Jul. 2019Sector: Toll road

Ardian sold its 49.9% stake in Tunels Barcelona Cadi, comprising two assets: Tunel de Vallvidrera (11.5km) and Tunel del Cadi (28.5km). During Ardian’s holding period, the concession experienced a significant increase in traffic, as well as increasing operational and financial efficiency. Additionally, many sustainability initiatives were successfully implemented.

Indigo

Date of investment: Jun. 2014Date of exit : Sep. 2019Sector: Car parks

Ardian sold its c.50% stake in Indigo Group, the world-leading car park & individual mobility group. Since Ardian became a shareholder, Indigo has experienced significant international growth in Europe, North and South America. Revenues rose 30% and the number of employees grew from 15,000 to 21,000.

ASR Wind

Date of investment: Aug. 2019 Sector: Wind energy

ASR Wind is a 420 MW wind platform located in Spain. Ardian will help the company to expand its generating capacity through further build-ups.

Hil l Top Energy Center

Date of investment: July 2019 Sector: Gas-powered generation

Once complete in mid-2021, Hill Top Energy Center will be one of the most efficient natural-gas-fired power plants in North America, with generating capacity of 620 MW. The company will sell its electricity to the Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland regional transmission organization, the largest competitive power market in the US.

EWE

Date of investment: Feb. 2020 (Signing Dec. 2019)Sector: Uti l i t ies

EWE is an innovative service provider in the energy and telecommunications sectors and is the fifth largest utility company in Germany, integrated along the full value chain and with a strong regional footprint in Lower Saxony. It has more than 8,500 employees and generated €5.7 billion in revenues in 2018. As a co-shareholder alongside local public shareholders, Ardian will support EWE’s strategy of innovation and help shape its transition to sustainable energy and its sizable development plan in fibre technology.

Exits

I N FR ASTRU C TU RE P O RTFO L I O


02/2019

Wind energy

Sweden under construction

06/2016 Sweden 10

01/2016 Norway 80

12/2019 Utilities Germany 5,704 (2018)

09/2019 Toll road Chile –

ASR Wind 08/2019 Wind energy Spain 83

07/2019 Wind and solar energy Spain and Italy 42

South America Renewables

09/2019 (sign.)

Solar energy

Peru –

09/2016 Chile 8

09/2016 Peru 6

Hill Top Energy Center 06/2019 Natural-gas-fired power plant United States under construction

Giralda 02/2019 Solar energy Spain under construction

10/2018

Wind energy United States 7509/2018

01/2018

09/2018 Motorways Italy 1,717 (2018)

Ausines 02/2018 Wind energy Spain 7

Parrot 02/2018 Wind energy Spain 6

09/2017 Oil and petrochemical storageUnited States and Europe

224

06/2017 Toll road Italy 64

06/2017 Oil transportation France 79

Tolve Windfarms Holding 06/2017 Wind energy Italy 6

03/2016 Solar energy Italy 2

01/2017

Toll road Portugal 50505/2016

02/2016

09/2017Oil storage France 82

12/2015

04/2015 Airport Italy 425

09/2011 Wind energy France 42

07/2011 Solar energy Italy 41

06/2011 Rail France 256

01/2011 Toll road Spain 32

12/2013Gas distribution Italy 1,187

09/2009

04/2009Renewable energy Italy 46

07/2007

06/2009 Toll road France 19

10/2007 Hospitals Italy 27

Merger of ASTM with SIAS and voluntary tender of fer by ASTM

Date of investment: Sept. 2018Date of merger: Dec. 2019 Sector: Motorways

Ardian supported the merger of ASTM with SIAS. This operation aims to create an integrated industrial group able to achieve its objectives for growth and internationalization in an efficient and competitive manner. The merger will simplify the structure of the group, positively impacting all stages of the business process: operational and decision-making efficiency, business development, and access to cash flows and to capital markets. The transaction promotes the group’s “One Company” initiative, which both the Gavio family and Ardian support.

Merger


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S t r o n g E u r o p e a n t e a m s d e p l o y r e c o r d a m o u n t o f c a p i t a l

MARK BRENKEHead of Ardian Private Debt

Ardian Private Debt consolidated its leading position in Europe in 2019, closing its fourth-generation vehicle at €3 billion. In a market where investors have increasingly favored the largest and most experienced players, the team has doubled assets under management to $7 billion over the past two years. During 2019, the team deployed €1 billion, completing 13 mid-market transactions with strong covenants across Western Europe out of Fund IV.

The team is expanding its activities in lower-risk, stretched senior lending, broadening its product range beyond unitranche and junior facilities and signaling its intention to offer a meaningful financing alternative to banks across the capital structure. As European banks retrench, more borrowers are considering fund providers for senior facilities, while the maturing of the asset class has increased demand from investors for a wider choice of risk/return profiles.

Ardian continues to expand its product offering and the reach of its investment teams – notably to Benelux and Scandinavia – to better meet the evolving needs of both investors and borrowers.

Ardian Private Debt’s focus on borrowers with resilient, highly visible cash flows leaves the portfolio relatively well positioned to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. The team enjoys excellent access to information from borrowers, close relations with their equity sponsors and strong legal documentation.

“We are now strongly positioned among the largest and most experienced private debt providers in Europe with ample opportunity to expand in senior lending.”

P r i va t e Debt

arranged in last 12 months

€1Bn

transact ions reviewed per

year

400+

18investment

professionals

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I n conversa t ion w i th A lpega

Fund f i nan c i ng pushes f u r t h e r i n t o t r a d i t i o na l b ank ing t e r r i t o r y

Julia Seidl: Our company was originally a carve-out from Wolters Kluwer Transportation Services, with Ardian providing the debt for our private equity owner, Castik Capital. We operate a freight marketplace where companies can deal with each other directly to arrange transport, and we also have a Transport Management Software business that sells and implements our logistics software in large companies. The original deal was back in early 2017, before I joined the business, but since then Ardian has provided two more funding lines for an add-on acquisition in Spain and to support investment in organic growth.

Mark Brenke: Our relationship with Alpega is interesting because this deal was our first stretched senior facility, so it shows how we are expanding the strategy to include situations with lower leverage, where bank syndicates have always been the dominant providers. As European banks continue to retrench, even from mid-market corporate lending, more borrowers are starting to see the advantages of working with a debt fund for senior debt, as opposed to the unitranche products that we’ve historically been known for. On the other side of the coin, our investors have also become more familiar with our asset class over the past few years and are able to distinguish between different risk/return profiles on private debt. That means there’s growing appetite among LPs to provide funding for these lower-leverage, lower-risk deals.

J.S.: If I compare this relationship with my previous experience with a bank syndicate, I can see the benefits of fund financing very clearly. One major advantage of working with Ardian is its flexibility in structuring the financing to suit our needs, compared to the more standardized terms and products that commercial banks offer. Then there’s the level of understanding they have of our business, which is much higher than what I experienced with a lot of banks, and the fact that we deal with the same people all the time. We have a single relationship with the Ardian deal team, so we don’t have to worry about being referred to multiple departments of several different banks.

M.B.: From our perspective those points are equally important. We have built up a good knowledge of Alpega’s sector, and this allows us to take a flexible approach to their funding needs and to move quickly when they need us to, for example when M&A opportunities come up. And although leverage on this deal was low on day one because of the challenges of executing the carve-out from Wolters Kluwer and because the business model is fairly complex, there was always an understanding between us and Castik that over time there would be the potential to provide further funding to support the company’s growth. Again, having a good understanding of their business and a stable relationship with the management team locally allows us to give them the flexibility they need from us as their funding provider.

J.S.: The financing we have from Ardian is a bit more expensive than the package we could get from a bank but we’re ready to pay a premium for the service we get because we feel Ardian can grow with us. And another important point from our perspective is that although the refinancing process itself is fairly intense, the ongoing

reporting system we have with Ardian is very reasonable compared to what we would experience with commercial banks. We don’t have to deal with multiple reporting streams from four or five different banks that tie up time from management and finance teams. This leaves us more time to get on with really driving the business. We’re pushing very hard to achieve sustainable double-digit growth over the next couple of years and although we have no M&A plans today, we will continue to look for opportunities. With these ambitions, we definitely hope to have Ardian as a long-term partner to support us.

M.B.: And us too. Having that straightforward bilateral relationship brings significant benefits because it allows us to provide a bespoke facility that meets the borrower’s needs much better. I believe our ability to do that and to manage our borrower relationships through local teams gives us a big advantage in this market, especially with borrowers who have never used fund-led finance and would always have gone to a bank in the past. They understand the benefits, but they also want someone local to talk to – as they would expect from a bank.

JULIA SEIDL CFO of Alpega

MARK BRENKE Head of Ardian Private Debt

Transport and logistics software

30+

years of experience

200,000+

users

80countries

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10/2019 Commercial and industrial refrigeration systems France 150

08/2019 Health and safety testing services United Kingdom 155

07/2019 Surgical Instruments France –

03/2019 Maintenance of conveyor systems France 150

03/2019 Multichannel insurance broking group United Kingdom 180

02/2019 ECM software development and consulting services Germany 80

11/2018 Financial products for finance professionals France 40

09/2018 Vehicle leasing and fleet management solutions Germany 60

09/2018 Supplier of managed IT services to SMEs Denmark 110

07/2018 Frozen pastries France 330

06/2018 General sales and services agent France 120

05/2018 Developer of software solutions for patient care service providers Germany 40

03/2018 Independent financial adviser France 50

10/2017 Nursing home operator Germany 215

10/2017 Insurance broking software Netherlands 70

08/2017 Transport and logistics software Belgium 35

05/2017 Facilities management procurement United Kingdom 140

02/2017 Specialty packaging France 75

08/2015 Pharmaceutical contract manufacturing France 185

08/2013 Specific sealing solutions France 160

08/2012 Fire resistant polyamide-imide fibers France 50

03/2010 Do-It-Yourself retail Benelux 1,390

PR IVATE D EBT P O RTFO L I OH I GH L I GHTS FROM 2019

Investments

A-Plan

Date of investment: Mar. 2019Sector: Mult ichannel insurance brokerage

Ardian arranged a subordinated debt facility to support HgCapital’s investment in A-Plan, one of the UK’s largest multichannel insurance brokers. Founded in 1963, A-Plan specializes in personal lines insurance and has a growing presence in niche markets such as SME policies.

NetCo

Date of investment: Mar. 2019Sector: Maintenance of conveyor systems

Ardian arranged a unitranche facility to support IK Investment Partners’ investment in NetCo group. Founded in 1902, NetCo is a French family-run industrial group specializing in the design, manufacture and maintenance of conveyor belt systems used in multiple industries.

Landanger

Date of investment: July 2019Sector: Surgical Instruments

Ardian provided a unitranche facility to support 21 Invest’s acquisition of Landanger. Founded in 1947, the group manufactures, distributes and services surgical instruments, with a strong position in 60 countries including France.

PTSG

Date of investment: Aug. 2019Sector: Health and safety test ing services

Ardian provided a unitranche facility to support Macquarie’s public-to-private acquisition of PTSG, a provider of safety-critical testing, inspection, compliance and installation services that was quoted on the UK’s AIM market. The company services more than 180,000 buildings in the UK, across a wide range of industries. An additional funding line of £15 million was provided in November 2019 to support further development and service acquisition costs.

Syclef

Date of investment: Oct. 2019Sector: Commercial and industrial refrigeration systems

Ardian arranged a unitranche facility to support the refinancing and capital reorganization of Syclef, a French company that installs and maintains commercial and industrial refrigeration systems. Syclef’s staff carry out around 120,000 site visits per year.

Build-ups

ECS

Date of build-up: Aug. 2019Sector: Air freight

ECS Group is a world leading global general sales agent, managing more than 1.1 million tons of cargo per year on behalf of airlines. The company acts as a strategic partner for airlines by marketing and managing even their most complex cargo requirements. In August 2019, Ardian provided an additional €58 million to support the company’s buy-and-build expansion plans.

Mobil i t y Holding

Date of build-up: Aug. 2019Sector: Vehicle leasing

The company offers full-service B2B vehicle leasing and fleet management, leasing for closed user groups, and offers all-inclusive 12-month leasing packages and an online lead generation platform for new B2C car sales. In August 2019, Ardian provided an additional €30 million to support the business’s rapid organic growth.

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C r e a t i n g o f f i c e s p a c e f o r t h e c i t i e s o f t o m o r r o w

STÉPHANIE BENSIMONHead of Ardian Real Estate

Ardian Real Estate demonstrated the strength of its targeted investment strategy in 2019 achieving the third exit from its debut fund, reinforcing its record of achieving excellent returns for LPs. The team focuses on core-plus and value-add office properties in major European cities, where a hands-on management team can create very significant value. Last year’s disposals included a value-add project in Paris that was sold a year ahead of its scheduled delivery and achieved returns above target, thanks to a major shortage of modern, grade A office space.

With low interest rates expected to continue for several years, competition for quality assets in the areas in which Ardian operates remains fierce. However, the team’s network of offices in Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and most recently Madrid is an important dif ferentiator. Its success in completing four investments as off-market deals shows the competitive advantages that come from an in-depth local network and knowledge of the region. In addition to Paris, Milan, Rome and major German cities, the team plans to start investing in Madrid and Barcelona.

Ardian Real Estate applies a proprietary sustainability framework across the portfolio, using ESG criteria to benchmark each asset and guide its plans to not only ensure efficiency and performance, but also improve the tenant experience.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the team has worked closely with tenants to jointly address any potential liquidity issues. None has faced difficulties so far. Refurbishments have slowed down to ensure construction company employees can work safely.

“We are now a recognized player in our markets for the types of deal we target, and we have gained a reputation as a reliable name to do business with.”

Rea l Es ta t e

of let table space under management

across 5 c i t ies

230,700m2

deals s ince incept ion

14

18investment

professionals

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I n conversa t ion w i th WPP

H ow c l o s e co l l ab o ra t i on w i t h a t e nan t c r e a t e d a l andm ark bu i l d i ng

STÉPHANIE BENSIMON Head of Ardian Real Estate

PIERS KNUCKEY Group Real Estate Manager at WPP

Stéphanie Bensimon: We bought the WestBridge building with LaSalle in June 2017 from its occupier, Lagardère, and we had 18 months to plan the refurbishment before they left in December 2018. The building was obsolete, but we liked the size and location and we thought there was an opportunity to do something that would transform the Levallois area, so we launched a contest between four renowned architectural practices. We were approached almost immediately by WPP, who were looking to create a campus for their agencies based in Paris. They first saw the building in October when the process was just getting started.

Piers Knuckey: That’s what we liked about the project – an existing concrete frame with potential. When Ardian and LaSalle confirmed they were going to double the capacity of the building from 1,300 to 2,500 people and increase the width of the floorplate from 12 to 18 meters, we felt this building would provide us with the flexibility we were aiming for. Also, as the project involved reusing most of the existing structure from the late 1980s, we were doing the right thing environmentally. There’s a lot of talk about “green buildings” but the greenest building of all is the one that already exists. Key to the project’s success was having approached Ardian and LaSalle at the very beginning. It gave us the opportunity to achieve more of what we were looking for. After our first visit to the building, we invited Ardian and LaSalle to London to tour our state-of-the-art offices at Sea Containers House and explain our campus philosophy. It was a good fit: we all wanted to create a unique product in Levallois.

S.B.: It was really impressive to see how far they had already gone in London in terms of what works for them and their employees. It’s very unusual for future tenants to be so closely involved in the way we refurbish a building, but working with them gave us fantastic insight into what this type of tenant was looking for. The result was a project that achieved even higher standards than we were originally planning because we had their input from the start. We can see from the market that the way tenants want to use their buildings is changing completely, so this was a great opportunity to understand what they want. It was a very valuable experience.

P.K.: The reason we were so keen to help shape the project is that real estate has become a key enabler of WPP’s corporate strategy. Our global campus strategy brings our agencies together under one roof and encourages greater collaboration, creativity and innovation among our people. Having a single location in-market enables us to provide integrated solutions for our clients and in turn, gives them easier access to the breadth and depth of talent across WPP. In 2021, when Paris opens, we will have about 2,500 people sharing world-class, dynamic spaces where they can meet, eat, work and welcome clients and partners. By partnering early with the developer, it meant we could get the important facilities we were looking for, such as a double-height townhall and restaurant space on the ground floor and a 150-seat auditorium. We also convinced them to extend the lifts to the rooftop garden on the ninth floor so it can be accessed directly from reception.

S.B.: We had a very constructive working relationship where we always found the right balance between creating a project that was as standard as possible and one that was as tailored as possible to their needs. We took the risk to go as far as having a restaurant on the eighth floor and triple height entrance halls, and WPP agreed with us about targeting the highest possible standards. I think this is going to be the best building in the area and, given its size and location, a unique asset.

P.K.: That was the intention on both sides, I think – to create a new standard for prime buildings.

S.B.: Definitely. Our strategy is to buy buildings that we can reposition and to create value regardless of the property cycle. With WPP’s help, we’ve developed a super-prime asset in Levallois with twice the potential occupancy of the original building. It’s a great example of what our fund aims to do.

WPP’s new campus in Paris, due to open

in 2021

28,000m2

2,800m2

added to the existing building

2,500users, up from 1,300

in old building

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Investments

El isa

Country: GermanyDate of investment: May 2019 (signing) Aug. 2021 (closing)

Ardian partnered with LBBW Immobilien Development GmbH to acquire the office project “3 Höfe Work” at Lützowstrasse 107-112 in central Berlin. The office complex is under construction with completion set for the third quarter of 2021. It will have around 18,000m2 of rental space in one of Berlin’s most sought-after office locations.

Fidia

Country: I taly Date of investment: Dec. 2019

Acquired in December 2019 and situated in Milan, the 6,800m2 building is currently fully vacant and will undergo major renovation works. The aim is to obtain a prime grade A office building that complies with the highest standards of energy performance. Delivery is expected by Q3 2022.

Bui ld ing Name Invest. date Type of asse t Count r y Ci t y Sur face area on acquis i t ion ( in m2)

Fidia 12/2019 Office complex Italy Milan 6,800

Pyramids 10/2019 Office complex France Paris 3,320

Roncaglia 07/2019 Office complex Italy Milan 6,800

Elisa 05/2019 Office complex Germany Berlin 17,800

Villa Emiliani 12/2018 Office complex Italy Rome 2,200

Carl 11/2018 Office complex Germany Berlin 29,500

Melzi d’Eril 11/2018 Office complex Italy Milan 4,000

Store 09/2018 Office complex Germany Berlin 12,600

06/2018 Office complex France Paris 8,100



02/2018 Office complex Germany Munich 16,000

Via Vittorio Veneto, 89 03/2017 Office complex Italy Rome 19,600

Colombo, 80 03/2017 Office complex Italy Rome 18,000

03/2017 Office complex Italy Milan 18,200

Contrada la Marchesa 03/2017 Office complex Italy Bari 11,900

01/2017 Office complex Germany Munich 38,200

R E A L ES TATE P O RTFO L I O

Colombo, 80

Country: I taly Date of investment: March 2017 Date of exit : Nov. 2019 (signing) Sept. 2020 (closing)

Ardian signed a preliminary agreement for the disposal of the property with an institutional German investor, with closing to take place in Q3 2020, after the completion of the works. Acquired in 2017, the 18,000m2 building is undergoing major renovation that will deliver a grade A office property by Q2 2020. The property has an occupancy rate of 90%, which could rise to 100% by the end of the refurbishment.

Exits

Konrad

Country: Germany Date of investment: Nov. 2016Date of exit : Jan. 2020

During the investment phase, the Ardian Real Estate team completed a comprehensive upgrade of the property, repositioning and rebranding the office complex as Konrad in September 2017. In 2019, it reached 100 per cent occupancy with 24 tenants on long-term lease agreements.

WestBridge

Country: FranceDate of investment: June 2017Date of exit : Oct. 2019

Ardian and LaSalle sold their interest in the WestBridge building in October 2019. Acquired in 2017, the 28,000m2 building is undergoing major renovation that will deliver a grade A office property by the end of 2020. In May 2019, Ardian and LaSalle signed a 12-year lease with WPP, the global marketing and communications group.


Pyramids

Country: FranceDate of investment: Oct. 2019

Ardian acquired a 3,320m2 Haussmann-style office complex in Paris’ first arrondissement. Very well located in the central business district, the building will be refurbished to bring the office space up to prime market standards and provide new services to future tenants.

Roncagl ia

Country: I talyDate of investment: July 2019

Ardian acquired a 1960s building with 6,800m2 of gross floor area, located in the south-west of Milan close to the new CityLife business district. The property has excellent public transport links to the city center and will be completely refurbished. This will create a grade A office building that meets the latest international construction, health and energy standards.

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OFFICES

CRED ITS This document contains information, including details of investment performance, in regards to funds which are no longer open to new investors. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Valuations may rise and fall over time. Investments in private equity funds are non-liquid, and there is no guarantee they can be sold at the value stated. This document does not constitute investment advice, an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or the basis for any contract for the purchase or sale of any investment. This document may not under any circumstances, replace the regulations or any other legal documentation concerning the funds stipulated in this document. Subscriptions to a private equity fund are accepted only from investors that meet the conditions required pursuant to the final version of the legal documentation for the funds stipulated in the document. Any decision by investors to invest in a private equity fund should be made only after they have conducted their own due diligence, investigation and consultations with their own legal, tax and accounting advisers insofar as the latter may deem necessary to appraise the merits and risks involved in making such an investment, and have formed their own opinion of the advisability and the consequences of such an investment. The term Ardian mentioned in this document refers to one or several entities that constitute the Ardian Group, depending on the situation applicable. The portfolio companies’ financial data are issued by the companies. Throughout the document, in the absence of any indication to the contrary, figures are as of December 31st, 2019 and the exchange rate applicable: €1 = $1.1198; €1 = £0.8537; $1 = £0.7623; €1 = CHF1.0874.

Europe

Paris 20, place Vendôme 75001 Paris FRANCE

London 1 Grafton Street London, W1S 4FE UNITED KINGDOM

Frankfurt An der Welle 4 60322 Frankfurt GERMANY

Milan Piazza San Fedele 2 20121 Milan ITALY

Madrid Calle Fortuny 6 5ª planta 28010 Madrid SPAIN

Zurich Bahnhofstrasse 20 8001 Zurich SWITZERLAND

Jersey Third Floor 27 Esplanade St. Helier JE2 3QA JERSEY

Luxembourg 24, Avenue Emile-Reuter L-2420 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

Americas

New York 1370 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10019 USA

San Francisco Suite 1400, 14th floor, Steuart Tower One Market Plaza San Francisco, CA 94105 USA

Santiago Av. Apoquindo 2929, Of. 1800, Piso 18 Las Condes, Santiago CHILE

Asia

Beijing Unit 20-22, Level 47, China World Tower A No.1 Jian Guo Men Wai Avenue Chaoyang, District Beijing 100004, CHINA

Tokyo Marunouchi Nijubashi Building 21F 3-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005, JAPAN

Singapore 1 Temasek Avenue Unit 20-02A Millenia Tower Singapore 039192 SINGAPORE

Seoul 27F, West Center Center 1 Building 26 Euljiro 5-gil, Jung-gu Seoul 04539 SOUTH KOREA

Published by the Communications Department of Ardian, May 202020, place Vendôme 75001 Paris, France

Content:The Investors Media Company Ltd.

Design & production:

Printed on PEFC-certified paper from sustainable forests.

Photos:© Franck Juery © Thomas Laisné © Ardian © Adobe Stock © ILN © Daniel Rathmann © Guillaume Mirand © Gantner © Ardian Foundation © DRT © Celli © Choisy © Dedalus © Nutripack © CCC © Ivalua © Uptoo © Rivalis © Soteria Flexibles © Palacios © Lindfast Solutions Group © Alfred © EWE © ASTM © Syclef © PTSG © WestBridge

ARDIAN GROUP ’S R ISK

APPET ITE STATEMENT 2019

Ardian Group’s mission is “to invest responsibly and sustainably in order to create lasting value, outstanding returns and shared outcomes for our investors and partners, for our portfolio companies and their employees and for our own people”. We have a conservative long-term approach to creating value that emphasizes industrial growth and strategic or operational excellence over excessive leverage and financial engineering.

Overall, we have a moderate appetite for risk. We operate in fast-moving and highly competitive markets, but aim to do so in a prudent, considered manner consistent with our mission and core values. Our external investors are predominantly institutions and qualified professionals, meaning we have limited exposure to certain legal and regulatory risks.

At fund level, we avoid investment strategies that rely on significant leverage or complex financial instruments. Our use of derivatives is restricted largely to hedging foreign-exchange and interest-rate exposures linked to the long-term nature of some fund cashflows. Our funds operate within strict guidelines that set various diversification and other limits agreed with our investors. We accept the risks that come from our ability to identify and close transactions quickly because this is one of our competitive advantages. As we expand into new asset classes and pursue new investment opportunities, we fully intend to maintain the discipline that has led to our investment success. Wherever possible we will monitor our approach to ensure that we understand key and emerging risk trends, such as the growing importance of digital technologies.

At Group level, we accept significant exposure to macro-economic risks related to the fact that most of our products are spread across several regions and industrial sectors. However, we believe that management of these interconnected risks is our essential core competency. We generate stable returns in part because we benefit

from diversification, via our different types of funds and the selected portfolio investments within them, and from our ability to manage our assets flexibly across unpredictable economic and financial cycles.

We aim at all times to maintain prudent cash balances and reserves to meet expected and unexpected demands and/or regulatory capital requirements in specific jurisdictions.

We have a particularly low appetite for risks that could threaten our reputation and we vigorously pursue the monitoring and mitigation of these risks. We continually assess our governance, our internal processes and procedures, the conduct of our directors and employees, as well as our awareness of unavoidable exposure to the actions and activities of third parties, including our fund administrators.

We accept operational risks associated with core IT systems, with data privacy and cybersecurity and with business continuity, but seek ways to mitigate these risks, including by making effective use of insurance. We are strongly committed to building and maintaining a strong compliance and risk culture, in the belief that this will considerably reduce our overall risk exposure. Our people and all those with whom we transact are vital to the good conduct of our business and we seek at all times a proper combination of fairness, incentives and vigilance.

Ardian is a fast-growing company measured by assets under management, by client and staff numbers and by geographical coverage. As we continue to expand, some of the risks we face are expected to evolve and new risks will continue to appear. We are committed to ensuring that we have the appropriate management and systems in place to manage these so that by embracing growth, we can achieve the next phase of our strategic goals.

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Documents

A collective vision of solidarity...solidarity 2019 Activity Report 01 Ardian is a world-leading private investment house. We are an employee-controlled company – global in outlook