Ardian has announced its participation in 2016 IPEM. On this occasion, we had the opportunity to interview Dominique Gaillard, Member of the Executive Committee at Ardian and Head of Direct Funds. He shared with us the reasons why Ardian chose to participate in this major event.
Why did you choose to participate in IPEM ?
Dominique GAILLARD : Several private equity events are organized every year, providing the opportunity to network within a specific region or a specific market. However, it is not common to allow Private Equity investors the opportunity to meetvwith entrepreneurs – besides one-to-one exchanges. IPEM offers this unique opportunity to meet with every link of the industry’s value chain, including companies of all sizes and sectors as well as key players of the Private Equity ecosystem, such as GPs, Debt, Advisors and LPs. I believe that this new format offered by IPEM is innovative and is absent in our industry.
What do you expect from IPEM?
Dominique GAILLARD : Deals ! This summit is a great opportunity to increase exchanges between industry players. I hope that the mutual understanding that will come out of it will allow companies to move beyond clichés that make them turn away from capital investment. We currently live in a paradoxical time where the flow of funds has to face a scarcity of companies on the PE market while there is a colossal need for investments at the same time. I hope this event will be an opportunity to show companies that Private Equity is more than a realistic and attractive option to fund their growth. I hope they will realize that those investors can provide a strategic and sector-focused expertise as well as powerful networks.
