News

UniCredit has sold its stake in SwanCap Partners to Ardian. No financial terms were disclosed. Based in Munich, Germany, SwanCap is a private markets investment management firm.

PRESS RELEASE

UniCredit (acting through UniCredit Bank AG) and funds advised by Ardian, a leading private investment house, have reached an agreement on the sale of UniCredit’s non-control shareholding in SwanCap Partners GmbH (“SwanCap”).

Both parties have agreed not to disclose the sale price.

SwanCap specialises in private equity (PE) buyouts, offering an integrated approach to its predominantly institutional investors by combining PE primary investments, direct secondaries and direct co-investments.

The business was established as an independent investment platform by senior professionals of the former UniCredit private equity unit in 2013.

Commenting on the sale, Jan Kupfer, Head of CIB Germany at UniCredit, said: “Today’s announcement is another tangible step in streamlining our activities, allowing us to focus on our core client offering. Looking ahead, we are pleased that SwanCap has the opportunity to build upon its European business alongside a leading investment house such as Ardian.”

Florian Kreitmeier, Co-CEO and Managing Partner of SwanCap, added: “This is an important milestone in the growth of SwanCap, reaffirming the company’s independence and its development as a pure-play investment manager. We are delighted to welcome Ardian as a long-term investor and partner as we continue to grow our firm and strive to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns to our investors.”

Ingmar Vallano, Senior Managing Director at Ardian, concluded: “SwanCap has built a remarkable and highly-professional investment management platform, distinguishing itself through a proven track record of sourcing and executing highly-attractive private equity investments for its investor base. We are convinced SwanCap will remain strategically positioned to further enhance its market position and we look forward to supporting the team in the years to come”.

The closing of the transaction is subject to the approval of the respective regulators.

UniCredit
UniCredit is a simple, successful pan-European commercial bank, with a fully plugged-in CIB, delivering a unique Western, Central and Eastern European network to its extensive client franchise of 26 million clients.

UniCredit offers local expertise and international reach, supporting its clients globally and providing them with unparalleled access to leading banks in its 14 core markets as well as 16 other countries worldwide.

UniCredit European banking network includes Italy, Germany, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey.

SwanCap
SwanCap Investment Management S.A. together with its advisor SwanCap Partners GmbH is a leading independent Investment Management Platform with offices in Munich, Luxembourg (own AIFM), Milan and New York. SwanCap manages c. €3bn of private equity related investments through both funds and managed accounts.

High calibre institutional investors and large family offices from Europe, North America and Asia rely on SwanCap to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns. Institutional investors include private and public pension plans, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds and fund of funds.

For over 18 years, SwanCap has specialized exclusively in private equity and has built its superior track record by consistently focusing on an investment strategy encompassing primary fund investments, direct co-investments and direct secondaries. SwanCap follows an “investment boutique approach” by deliberately limiting both the breadth of its investor base and the number of parallel funds and mandates in order to avoid allocation conflicts. As a premium player in the industry, SwanCap is focused on tailor-made investment programs and proven investment strategies in distinctive private equity market segments for its investors on the basis of trusted, long-term partnerships.

For more information about SwanCap, please visit https://www.swancap.eu/home/.

Ardian
Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$90bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas 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.