After a very active 2020 despite the pandemic, the fast-growing independent asset management firm has for the first time added three independent members to its Supervisory Board: Anne-France Malrieu, Christian Baillet and Jean-Louis Laurens. With its unique partnership model, Andera Partners has set itself the target of reaching €4-5 billion in assets under management by 2025, through organic growth and the recruitment of new industry specialists.
Andera Partners, an independent asset management firm specialising in private equity and operating through four specialist teams, Andera Life Sciences, Andera MidCap, Andera Expansion and Andera Acto, had an extremely busy year in 2020 despite the tough economic conditions, with €285 million in capital deployed, €148 million in sale proceeds received and €580 million in funds raised.
Supervisory Board strengthened by the appointment of three outstanding non-execs
We began 2021 with the appointment of three new non-executive directors to the Supervisory Board to lend additional strength to the partners in the governance of the firm. These outstanding appointees, who will actively contribute to the reputation and reach of Andera Partners, are Anne-France Malrieu, partner at Image 7, Christian Baillet, former Chairman and CEO of Quilvest, who will chair the Board, and Jean-Louis Laurens, former managing partner at Rothschild & Co. (see biographical notes at the end of this press release).
€4-5 billion in assets under management by 2025
Assets under management (AUM) currently stand at €2.5 billion, having risen 25% in a year following two major fundraisings. ActoMezz IV, managed by Andera Acto, successfully raised €500 million in the middle of lockdown, while a further €80 million was raised for Cabestan Croissance, managed by Andera Expansion.
In 2020, Andera Partners also kicked off the fundraisings for Cabestan Capital 3 (managed by Andera Expansion) and BioDiscovery 6 (managed by Andera Life Sciences), with target sizes of €220 million and €450 million respectively. Final closings will take place over the coming months.
Fundraising for Andera MidCap 5, the successor fund to Winch Capital 4, will begin at the end of the first half of 2021. The target size is €600 million.
Andera Partners is aiming to reach €4-5 billion in assets under management by 2025. This target will be achieved both through organic growth and through the targeted recruitment of specialist staff who share the partnership vision, values and outstanding practical skills of the current Andera Partners teams.
With these targets in mind, Andera Partners recruited nine new employees in 2020, increasing its total workforce to 75 people. Four investment staff were hired, while the support functions were bolstered by five new recruits, primarily in Investor Relations, Operations, and Finance and Digital.
Andera Partners’ Action for Climate & Sustainability: ramping up our ESG strategy
Andera Partners gave extra momentum to its ESG strategy in 2020 with the establishment of an Action for Climate & Sustainability Committee. The Committee’s mission is to coordinate all Andera Partners projects in this field, which are grouped around three main focus areas:
- The commitment of the firm and its staff to transform Andera Partners into an environmentally responsible enterprise and to obtain Carbon Neutral certification for a second consecutive year;[1]
- Supporting the transformation of portfolio companies by putting specific roadmaps in place, especially to improve their carbon footprint;
- Social impact, through a range of sponsorship projects covering health, education and access to jobs, and ocean conservation.
New brand identity to support a unique vision of investing – Charitable foundation to be set up in 2021
In 2020, Andera Partners rolled out a new brand identity illustrated by our new signature phrase “The Power of And”.
Combining the ideas of performance and commitment, this new branding expresses Andera Partners’ unique vision of investing and its mission to engage with companies and their managers to support them on the path to strong and sustainable growth. This mission, which Andera Partners has pursued for 20 years, resonates especially strongly in these current times, when the need to reconcile financial and non-financial performance is central to the concerns of our investors, our staff, the managers of our portfolio companies, and society as a whole.
During 2021, Andera will announce a variety of new ESG actions, including the launch of a charitable foundation and enhanced support for ESG monitoring in our portfolio companies, which will be coordinated within the firm by a new strategic recruit to be hired in the next few weeks.
Reflecting the importance attached by the partners to the Andera Partners brand, the previous names Winch Capital, Cabestan, BioDiscovery and ActoMezz have given way to the Andera MidCap, Andera Expansion, Andera Life Sciences and Andera Acto brands.
Sylvain Charignon and Raphaël Wisniewski, Partners and Co-Managers of Andera Partners, commented on these announcements as follows:
“Since obtaining independence from its former parent a few years ago, Andera Partners has grown strongly and built up a robust organisation. It is now ready to change scale. The needs are immense, and we address them distinctively through our unique partnership-based approach, which we offer to our investors, to the companies we support, and also to society as a whole, especially through our climate and sustainable growth commitments. This approach reflects the underlying reality of Andera Partners: an authentic partnership that has no equivalent in the French private equity universe.”
- Andera Partners: a partner for sound growth
Over more than 25 years, Andera Partners has helped upscale more than 260 companies in France, Europe and North America. Andera Partners currently supports the managers of 103 companies whose combined revenue exceeds €6.5 billion. In addition to financial growth, Andera Partners’ teams also encourage the development of healthy and sustainable growth, in particular through the social footprint of our portfolio companies. Thus, for the companies partnered by Andera Partners, 2020 featured:
- 37,000 employees
- More than 200 newly created jobs
- More than 2,000 employee shareholders
Activities of the four teams
Andera Acto specialises in sponsorless mezzanine investment in French SMEs and mid-tier companies. In 2020, the team carried out five transactions, comprising four new investments (Factoria, Prenax, SFEIR and L2D) and one exit (Prenax). During the year, Andera Acto successfully completed the €500m fundraising for the ActoMezz IV Fund in the midst of the lockdown.
Andera Life Sciences specialises in financing innovative companies in the Life Sciences field. The team completed two exits in 2020 (Corvidia and Genkyotex) and began fundraising for the BioDiscovery 6 fund (target: €450m). Andera Life Sciences portfolio companies commenced nine advanced clinical trials (phase 2 and 3) and three early-stage clinical development trials (phase 1). Twelve clinical programmes yielded their results in 2020.
Andera Expansion and Andera Croissance specialise in equity finance for French SMEs. The team carried out six transactions, comprising four new investments (Artemys, SE2M, Forex Finance and Sirsa) and two exits (Au Forum du Bâtiment, Octime). Andera Expansion also completed an €80 million fundraising for the Cabestan Croissance fund and began fundraising for Cabestan Capital 3.
Andera MidCap specialises in equity finance for French and European SMEs and mid-tier companies. The team made three investments during the year (including Panhard Logistique and 1880 Pusterla) while the portfolio companies carried out eight acquisitions, six of them aimed at international expansion.
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Non-executive members of the Supervisory Board
Christian Baillet, Chairman: An engineer by training, Christian began his career in M&A and before quickly moving to senior management positions in large businesses, including serving as CFO and later CEO of the Bemberg/Quilvest Group. As head of private equity and subsequently Chairman of the Quilvest Group, Christian has a particular interest in the governance of large family-owned businesses and entrepreneurial development.
Anne-France Malrieu: A partner at Image7, Anne-France has spent over 25 years as a consultant to the top management of large companies, especially in France (Accor, Kerin, Hermès, Eurazeo, Pernod Ricard, etc.). Her roles have included advising the Mittal family during the merger with Arcelor and serving as interim communications director for the Accor Group. In addition to her high-level consultancy experience, she takes a particular interest in social, digital, ethical and diversity issues.
Jean-Louis Laurens: A graduate of HEC with a PhD in economics from the University of Paris Dauphine-PSL, Jean-Louis began his career in investment banking (Midland Bank/Montagu Group, Morgan Stanley) before moving into asset management (Axa IM, Robeco, Rothschild & Cie. Gestion) in France and internationally (Paris, Düsseldorf, New York, Rotterdam). He was the co-founder of Midland Bank’s private equity business and is a former board member of AXA Private Equity. Alongside his experience in investment banking and asset management, he has a particular interest in governance and development issues.
[1] International certification issued by the independent body CO2Logic.