‘It takes four years to fully recover’ – Dominique Senequier on the lessons from four decades of crises
Market watch
‘It takes four years to fully recover’ – Dominique Senequier on the lessons from four decades of crises
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02 April 2026
Reading time: 2 minutes
Dominique Senequier
Founder & CEO, Ardian
CNBC interview: crises never last
A cautious approach is the key to navigating crisis periods
A cautious approach is the key to navigating crisis periods
Private equity is necessarily a long-term investment strategy, so firms must expect to face crises periodically and to navigate through them. By adopting a conservative approach, buying at realistic valuations and using only modest leverage, Ardian has protected its investors’ money through each crisis it has faced. The true price of war, she said, is paid in human grief.
War is a human tragedy. Economies always recover, but you don’t recover from a human grief.
Europe has grown more resilient since the Ukraine war
Europe has grown more resilient since the Ukraine war
She also argued that Europe has learned lessons from the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and is better placed to weather the current energy shock. Europe has diversified its energy sources. The oil price could go much higher, she agreed, “but it never lasts”. She asserted that Europe can now recover nearly as fast as the US.
What we have observed is that, generally speaking, in every crisis it takes four years to fully recover.
