Letters from our regions: Frankfurt, Ardian and the passage of time

The golden city on the Main 

“Nowhere is such a beautiful time enjoyed in greater comfort than in cities living under their own laws, large enough to include a considerable number of citizens, and situated so as to enrich them by trade and commerce,” writes the German author and poet Goethe in his autobiography Dichtung und Wahrheit (1811­­­­­­­­­­­­­–33), reflecting on his birthplace, Frankfurt.­­­­

To this day, Frankfurt remains a highly cosmopolitan city and one of Europe’s major finance hubs, home to multiple banks and financial actors including the European Central Bank and the Deutsche Bundesbank. Its many skyscrapers give it one of the most recognizable skylines in Europe.

A strong network of loyal clients  

Ardian opened its Frankfurt office in 2001 and now ranks among the largest private equity players in Germany, with more than 70 staff. Germany is one of Ardian’s most important fundraising markets. 

This large number of LPs reflects the breadth and decentralization of the market the Frankfurt IR team covers, partly owing to Germany’s federal structure. “Almost each of the 16 states has its own occupational pension scheme,” explains Florian Kluge, “a bit like in the US, but on a different scale. There are quite a few liberal professions – doctors, lawyers and so on – so all in all close to 100 local pension funds. Then you have over 500 insurance companies and many very large corporate pension funds.”

With so many LPs, it is a market that’s impossible to cover from, say, London. “LPs appreciate that they always have German-speaking contacts, whether in sales, investment or reporting,” says Florian Kluge. “That gives us a decisive advantage compared to other market participants.”

These structural factors have made German LPs the largest client base globally for the firm’s Customized Solutions business. The platform’s breadth, combined with selected third-party solutions, makes it particularly well suited to delivering customized mandates. “When you combine the two, it’s a very good match,” says Jan Philipp Schmitz.

With relationships cultivated over a long period of time, German clients have shown a strong affinity with Ardian. “For almost every fund that Ardian has raised in the last ten years, we’ve been able to secure at least one or two German clients – often very many more,” says Jan Philipp Schmitz.

“It’s predominantly an institutional market for us now,” says Florian Kluge, “but we’re also expanding to the high-net-worth individuals market as well as the mass affluent market, with our dedicated evergreen funds, which is a huge growth opportunity for us.”

Investment teams representing all activities 

With a GDP of $5 trillion, the third-largest economy in the world has long attracted private capital, thanks to its deep industrial base and a landscape of mid-sized, or Mittelstand, businesses – often family owned. Last year, private equity deal activity in Germany reached nearly €75 billion – around €3 billion more than in 2024, according to PitchBook. “The breadth of the mid-market continues to create a broad opportunity set across our strategies,” says Dirk Wittneben, Head of Expansion Germany.

Long defined by its conservative fiscal stance, Germany saw a potential paradigm shift last year, with proposals opening the door to up to €1 trillion in fiscal expansion over the next decade, including €500 billion earmarked for infrastructure investment.  

“The German government has understood the need for increased infrastructure investment,” says Daniel von der Schulenburg, COO Infrastructure & Head of Infrastructure Germany, Benelux & Northern Europe. “This also sends a strong signal to private investors, reinforcing Germany’s position as a business location while benefiting from megatrends such as digitalization and decarbonization.”  

A notable feature of this evolving framework is the treatment of defense spending, which is increasingly being considered outside traditional deficit constraints. In this context, Oxford Economics points to early signs of a capex revival, suggesting German industry is reaching a turning point and setting the stage for stronger growth.

Alongside this, public initiatives are seeking to crowd in private capital. In December 2025, the German government and KfW launched a “Germany Fund,” which aims to mobilize up to €130 billion from private investors for investment in infrastructure, technology and other sectors – a model similar to Bpifrance in France.  

These factors should all continue to drive activity in German private markets. “Private credit has grown significantly in Germany in the past five years,” says Lukas Stepanek, Head of Private Credit DACH & Managing Director. “We continue to see strong demand in the mid-market, where our team remains highly active.”  

The same themes are also visible in private equity. Last year marked the first German transaction of Ardian’s Semiconductor platform, with a buyout of the family-founded semiconductor equipment business, Centrotherm.  

As it celebrates 25 years this September with colleagues and business partners, Ardian’s Frankfurt office is thriving and poised for its next chapter.