The opening of its first office in Madrid in 2015 marked the beginning of Ardian’s expansion in Spain. Although it had already invested in the country before, this initiative made the difference, with three main strategies that have been developed from this office in Spain and Portugal: procurement, infrastructure and real estate. On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, the French fund will hold its general meeting in the Spanish capital this year.

Gonzalo Fernández-Albiñana, Head of Buyout in Spain and Portugal, explained that the country has one of the highest growth rates in Europe, with an estimated Gross Domestic Product of $1.7 trillion, making it the fourth largest economy in Europe, and one which “has shown a solid post-pandemic economic performance”.

Renewable energy
Ardian’s investments in renewable energy started in 2007, before its Madrid office opened. The fund currently manages over 8 GW of thermal and renewable energy capacity in Europe and the Americas. Its Spanish portfolio has just experienced further growth, with the company having purchased a 35% stake in Mutua Madrileña’s two wind farms, making it the sole owner of these two infrastructure projects in which it initially invested in 2018.

With this acquisition, Ardian’s Spanish renewables portfolio now totals nearly 250 MW of wind and solar assets. The Ausines and Veciana wind farms in which the Spanish insurer has just acquired a stake are located in Castile and León and Catalonia, respectively, and have a total capacity of 56 MW.

Student accommodation
Another very attractive industry for investors in recent years has been student accommodation, and Ardian has not let this opportunity slip away. Last October, the French fund launched , an investment platform in this type of accommodation together with the Dutch fund Rockfield, to which CBRE Investment Management contributed 500 million euros and has just announced a further 300 million.

Purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) is a building that is designed for this purpose when constructed. Ardian and Rockfield aim to create a diversified portfolio of such assets in the major university cities across continental Europe, focusing on markets with imbalances in demand due to growing student populations and structural shortages of supply, particularly in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and France.

So far they have acquired five properties totalling over 3,000 beds, one of them in Barcelona. In the coming months, they plan to complete four more purchases in Spain, France and the Netherlands, bringing the total number of beds to 5,000.

^{Photo: Ardian}