Ardian, the $200bn AUM asset manager and advisory firm, has appointed long-serving exec Mark Benedetti as its co-CEO.
Firm founder Dominique Senequier remains CEO alongside Benedetti, who joined Ardian 20 years ago and has been chair of its executive committee since 2023, guiding the strategic direction and operations of the firm.
Senequier launched Ardian’s predecessor business Axa Private Equity in 1996 as part of the Axa Group, before spinning off the firm as Ardian in 2013.
Ardian has grown into a titanic asset manager since, managing or advising $200bn for more than 1,920 clients worldwide across private equity, real assets and credit.
The firm also confirmed the appointments of Mathias Burghardt, Vladimir Colas and Jan Philipp Schmitz as executive presidents at its AGM.
Benedetti said, “As Ardian marks its 30th year, it is natural that we would reflect on where we find ourselves now – both as an industry and as a firm – in the changing world around us.
“The defining feature of markets today is resilience under strain. While financial markets are holding up at a surface level, their resilience is uneven. This reinforces the importance of discipline, active management and the underlying fundamentals.
“When markets are harder to read, we must double down on the approach behind good investments: value creation and value protection.
“In this context, we are seeing a new shape of value emerging. It is an approach where success and excellence grow more from being humble and not absolutist about investment convictions. It is about finding value enhancement and protection through an approach that is more resilient, earnings-led and operationally grounded.
“Our 30-year heritage of prudent and practical investing at Ardian gives us confidence that we can further evolve our approach around greater diversification, greater sector expertise and a deeper focus on disciplined execution. That is how we intend to capture the upside of the new shape of value.”
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