Ardian and iCapital partner to broaden private markets investment access for wealth managers

By Edlyn Cardoza

Ardian, a private investment house, has entered a partnership with iCapital, a global FinTech platform driving access and efficiency in alternative investing for the asset and wealth management industries to provide wealth managers with access to Ardian’s private market investment strategies. Notably, iCapital products created due to this partnership will be available through Allfunds, a B2B WealthTech platform.

Ardian will leverage iCapital’s technology platform and structuring solutions to provide wealth managers and their clients with access to Ardian’s deep private markets expertise and suite of alternative investment strategies based on its global network of 15 offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Ardian’s alternative investment strategies spanning private equity, real assets and private credit will be available to wealth managers.

“In 2020, we launched our Private Wealth Solutions initiative based on our conviction that alternative investment opportunities should be accessible to wealth managers and their private clients around the world,” said Erwan Paugam, Head of Private Wealth Solutions and Managing Director at Ardian. “Joining forces with iCapital ensures that wealth managers can now seamlessly access our broad expertise in Private Equity, Real Assets and Private Credit investing. Through this partnership, we are combining iCapital’s innovative technology platform with our long-standing commitment to meet the evolving demands of the global wealth management community, to bring a leading solution to wealth managers and help their clients achieve their investment goals.”

Private Wealth has always been an essential part of Ardian’s investor base. Today, this segment represents more than $8.3 billion of assets under management and over 600 investors. Over the past three years and following the launch of its Private Wealth Solutions unit, Ardian has been developing new ways to give private clients and wealth managers greater access to private market assets.

With more than $141 billion in alternative assets under management and long-standing experience as a private investment house, Ardian’s partnership with iCapital comes amid surging interest in alternative investing from the global wealth management community and their clients, who have historically had more limited access to appropriately structured alternative investing opportunities. These investors are also increasingly prioritising ESG when making their investment decisions. Ardian has been developing its approach to responsible investment for over 10 years, notably through its annual Secondaries portfolio ESG monitoring. Ardian’s objective is to amplify its impact by assessing GP’s practices and actively engaging with them to improve ESG integration in private investments.

“Our mission is to solve the fundamental challenges of investing in private markets for wealth managers and their private clients. iCapital’s solutions help asset managers and wealth managers facilitate their clients’ access to the growth and diversification opportunities of private markets,” said Marco Bizzozero, Head of International at iCapital. “This partnership represents another important milestone in our global expansion. We are very pleased to support Ardian’s commitment to bring attractive alternative investment opportunities to the wealth management channel globally and to help advisors and their clients achieve their investment objectives.”