News

Ardian has provided financing to support the acquisition of a minority stake in Cyrus Group by its management and employees. The seller is BlackFin Capital Partners. No financial terms were disclosed. Based in France, Cyrus is a wealth management advisory firm.

PRESS RELEASE

Paris, 28 March 2018 – Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, announced today that it has provided a Unitranche financing to support the management of Cyrus Group, led by Meyer Azogui, and its employees in their acquisition of the Group’s entire capital.

The Unitranche financing arranged by Ardian will give Cyrus’ management and employees the financial resources to acquire the minority stake held in the Group by BlackFin Capital Partners, a firm which supported Cyrus in 2012 to accelerate its growth strategy.

The transaction increases the stake of Cyrus’ managers and employees, making them the sole shareholders. Beyond the reorganization of the shareholding, the financing also includes an additional committed debt facility to further support the Group’s acquisition strategy.

Founded in 1989, Cyrus is one of the leading independent wealth management advisory firms in France, with €3.4 billion in assets under management. Cyrus specialises in wealth strategy and investment consulting, with its key expertise lying in private wealth management. Since 2010, the Group operates an asset management business (Invest AM) and a property consulting business (Eternam), which have helped upscale assets under management. Cyrus has a workforce of 175, including 60 financial advisors, with 13 offices in France and one in Israel.

Since its inception, the Group has been majority-owned by its employees, due to its management’s desire to share value creation amongst employees.

Guillaume Chinardet, Head of Private Debt France at Ardian, said: “We were impressed by Cyrus Group’s track record and the reputation and professionalism of its teams. With a view to a long-term partnership, we are pleased to be able to support Meyer Azogui and the company’s management in its ambitious growth strategy.”

Meyer Azogui, CEO of Cyrus Group, added: “As a major player in wealth management, we want to continue to grow without losing the values which characterise us and which are part of our culture. We support human accomplishment before managing the fruits of this success. With Ardian, we will be able to accelerate our growth while respecting this human dimension.”

ABOUT CYRUS GROUP
Founded in 1989, Cyrus Group is one of the leading independent wealth management advisory firms in France, with €3.4 billion financial assets under management. Structured around 3 complementary business lines (portfolio management, real estate and asset management) across 14 sites, Cyrus Group offers its high-end customer base of entrepreneurs, executives and wealthy families with wealth management consulting services and financial and real estate investment solutions to suit their needs. The company has a workforce of 175, including 60 asset consultants. www.cyrusconseil.fr Follow Cyrus on Twitter @CyrusConseil

ABOUT ARDIAN
Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$67bn managed or advised in Europe, North America and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.

Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.

Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 490 employees working from thirteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), North America (New York, San Francisco) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo). It manages funds on behalf of c.700 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt. Follow Ardian on Twitter @Ardian
www.ardian.com