Ardian said to consider stake in $2 billion Mubadala portfolio

Ardian, a Paris-based alternative-investment firm, is in talks to take a stake in Mubadala Development Co.’s $2 billion private equity portfolio, people familiar with the matter said. Under the terms being discussed, the Abu Dhabi-based sovereign fund would place the assets into a new vehicle, and Ardian would buy a 50 per cent stake for about $1 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The French firm would also provide as much as $200 million in capital for deals, one of the people said. No final decisions have been made, and talks could still fall apart, they said. “Mubadala is still in discussions with a number of world-class investment firms to create an investment vehicle for private equity deals,” Mubadala spokesman Brian Lott said Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Ardian didn’t immediately respond to e-mailed requests for comment. The portfolio resides in the group’s investment-management division, Mubadala Capital, which holds stakes in investment firms such as Carlyle Group LP and Mubadala Infrastructure Partners, as well as companies such as EMI Music Publishing, according to its website. Ardian, which raised $10.8 billion last year for its seventh pool dedicated to buying private equity fund stakes, has completed a number of high-profile deals in the sector in recent years - including buying GE Capital’s private equity unit and a $1 billion portfolio from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte in 2015. The company has about $60 billion in assets under management. (Kiel Porter, Sabrina Willmer and Dinesh Nair/Bloomberg)