Repeat investors drove Ardian’s private credit business last year

More than half of Ardian’s private credit investments came from repeat investors last year, the asset manager has confirmed.

In its 2023 integrated report, Ardian reported that its private credit business boasted $8bn (£6.05bn) of assets managed or advised last year, and arranged $3.7bn during the previous 18-24 months.

Mark Brenke, head of private credit, and Guillaume Chinardet, deputy head of private credit and senior managing director, described last year’s performance as “resilient”, with “robust” demand across Europe.

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Brenke and Chinardet said although M&A remained subdued throughout 2023, the investment pace of the fifth iteration of Ardian’s private credit fund was “strongly underpinned by repeat business with existing portfolio companies, as sponsors concentrated on buy-and-build strategies that required follow-on financing.”

“These deals offer attractive risk profiles and accounted for in excess of 50 per cent of our volume last year, illustrating the scale benefits that our large portfolio brings,” they said.

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“Our portfolio produced a resilient performance despite pressure from rising interest rates, which lifted yields on floating rate senior secured loans into the 10 to 12 per cent range – a long-term high.”

Brenke and Chinardet added that the fund’s resilience was due to a “disciplined focus on businesses with good revenue visibility and high cash conversion, as well as more lender-friendly loan documentation”.

The French asset manager is in the process of raising funds for its sixth private credit fund.

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