LPs

AXA PE Finally Sets Plans For Spinout

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  • Plan under discussion nearly two years
  • Management to own stake, lead new firm
  • Institutions to take ownership stake

The spinout of the firm is just the latest move to dispose of assets by large European financial institutions. In 2011, AlpInvest Partners, a fund of funds giant had been owned by Holland’s two largest pension funds, announced plans to be sold to The Carlyle Group in a management-backed deal. The next year, Credit Suisse said it planned to sell off its fund-of-funds group, Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group.  Also in 2012, Swiss Re sold its $7 billion fund of funds unit, Swiss Re Private Equity Partners, to BlackRock Private Equity Partners.

Dominique Senequier, currently the chief executive of AXA Private Equity, will be head of the new company. In a statement, she said: “The new structure…would deliver continuity valued by our clients,” and promises to “keep our talented team together and reinforces our investment approach.”

Under the plan, AXA Private Equity’s 298 employees will own 40 percent of the new firm, while 27 percent will be owned by AXA Group, and the remaining 33 percent will be owned by a group of institutions and family offices that the firm declined to disclose.

AXA Private Equity, which was founded in 1996, is mainly a fund of funds manager with pools dedicated to private equity, secondary and venture capital, but in recent years, the firm has expanded to offer infrastructure, private debt and co-investment vehicles. Overall, the firm manages $31 billion in assets, making it one of the largest fund of funds managers in the world.  

AXA Private Equity’s plans to spin out from its corporate parent have been discussed for nearly two years in the press.  According to Jérémie Delecourt, the firm’s director for corporate and international development and the person in charge of getting the plan off the ground, the slow process was due mainly to the priority of preparing investors for the changes.

Ultimately, Delacourt said, investors were enthusiastic about the move because “they want the team, which they have known for 17 years, to stay in charge. With this structure they are sure there will be continuity.” But for the brand, there will not be continuity. Delacourt said, “We’re only allowed to keep the AXA brand for two more years, so we’re already working on creating a new brand.”