Why the best companies choose to grow with Ardian’s Expansion team

Finding high-quality businesses in high-value niche markets is just the start. Successful outcomes depend on Expansion’s ability to offer a full range of value creation support for ambitious management teams targeting rapid international growth. 

Expansion brings a proven value creation toolkit to the table

The Expansion team targets lower midcap companies across Western Europe in a range of sectors and helps them accelerate their growth and expand internationally. This strategy, focused on taking high-quality growth businesses to the next level, defines the team’s approach to value creation.  

Competition is fierce to buy companies that can grow fast and deliver high margins. To win, buyers must offer founders and management teams more than just an attractive price. For Expansion, bringing a proven value creation toolkit to the table that can support the company’s strategic goals is an important differentiator that resonates with management teams.  

This is why the process of building the value creation plan begins as soon as Expansion starts considering a potential deal – value creation is embedded in each deal process from the beginning, ensuring no time is lost.  

Value creation anchored in due diligence 

A joint assessment between deal team and value creation team shapes the agenda for commercial due diligence. Value creation specialists meet the management alongside the deal team and gather more detailed information over the course of the due diligence.  

This has two key benefits. It provides a deeper understanding of the company’s strengths and areas for improvement, enabling the team to refine the value creation plan even before the deal closes.  

But it also sends an important signal to the company, demonstrating that Ardian is an investor that will offer not only financial expertise but also commit to hands-on involvement in executing value creation plans, from operational transformation projects to strengthening the executive team. In many cases, this commitment is a key factor in the company’s decision to partner with Ardian.  

Many of Expansion’s portfolio companies are already delivering sector-leading profit growth, so the challenge is to help them reach the next level. This requires an approach that is highly customized for each company but also addresses major transversal issues where Ardian’s scale and wide sector exposure add significant value. AI is a good example of a trend that affects every sector, and one on which Ardian’s Expansion team provides systematic support to its portfolio companies.  

A systematic approach to AI disruption  

Rapid developments in AI are a major focus for every company in the Expansion portfolio. A key transversal value creation project for 2025 was to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the potential for AI-driven disruption at each company, as well as its opportunities to benefit from AI by generating revenue growth and reducing operating costs.  

Expansion’s value creation specialists worked with each portfolio company to create a list of three to four priority AI use cases, ranked according to their forecast benefits versus the cost and complexity of delivering each project. Expansion’s ownership of the AI consultancy Artefact – exited during 2025 – meant its portfolio companies could gain immediate access to world-class AI implementation expertise to help deliver their priority projects.  

Building management teams that scale

Expansion’s growth strategy for portfolio companies typically includes a significant contribution from bolt-on acquisitions, especially to accelerate the company’s international expansion. This naturally means they will become larger and more complex organizations that require a wider range of management expertise. The value creation plan therefore places major emphasis on human capital.  

For companies run by founder-CEOs, building a strong, professional management team with the right governance and incentives is often necessary to unlock the next stage of growth. At the operational level, targeted hires bring on board the skills required to run a bigger organization. M&A professionals are frequently added while operational improvements often require the appointment of a Chief Transformation or Chief Operating Officer. Similarly, Expansion supports portfolio companies that are expanding internationally to put in place country-based management teams.  

Long term partnership built on shared conviction  

Every company in the Expansion portfolio requires a different mix of value creation initiatives that recognizes its specific challenges and opportunities. Success depends on forging a close partnership with the management, based on a shared understanding of what changes are needed and how best to deliver them. Expansion’s commitment to long-term engagement in executing value creation plans is a major factor in its ability to partner with some of Europe’s most dynamic companies.  

*Subject to confirmation at Ardian’s next Annual General Meeting, to be held in May 2027