INTERVIEW – Now an academician, a powerful financier and the founding chairman of Ardian, one of the world leaders in private investment, is the 8th.e woman to join the inner circle of the Institut de France.
Madame Figaro . – At the time of waking up?
Dominic Senequie. – Never the same. I don’t set an alarm clock.
The height of your position.
Twenty-eight years ago I founded Ardian (formerly Axa Private Equity), an asset management firm specializing in unlisted companies, real assets (infrastructure, real estate, etc.) and private debt. Our job is to raise money around the world (China, United States, South America, Middle East) to create new funds that will invest in private markets. We also buy back entire portfolios referred to us by investors.
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Results?
Today, Ardian has $164 billion in assets, 19 offices worldwide and 1,070 employees. It takes a lot of energy and work to convince so many people to move in the same direction, to gain the trust of clients to manage their investments. For thirty years, I traveled a lot, sacrificed every night… spared no effort. You also need to know how to tell the truth. This is the only way not to make a mistake.
Do we have to go back to the origins?
Education was highly valued in my family. My maternal grandmother, born in 1894, a math teacher, had a great influence on me, we used to do math exercises together on her balcony in the summer. It was like a game, I loved it. Twice a widow, she repeated to me. 1972 In April, I was in special mathematics at Thiers High School in Marseille when the Polytechnic competition opened for girls. My father, a polytechnic graduate of the class of 1942, wanted one of his children to join X like him. I joined at 19.
Memorable memory?
My math teacher’s inappropriate reaction. “If you didn’t show up, your classmate Bruno would have been accepted instead of you.”
You have to know how to tell the truth, the whole truth. That’s the only way not to make a mistake
Dominic Senequie
Who trusted you?
First, my uncle, also a polytechnic, who advised me when I was out of X to opt for an insurance regulator, albeit a less prestigious one. He told me: “There you will be able to combine intellectual and family life.” He was right. Later, Claude Beber, president of Axa. Strategic genius. He had bought the Equitable group from the United States and explained to me: “You are going to copy the model. Aksa will give you one, you will raise two.” In 1996, I started with less than a million dollars. Five years later, we exceeded three billion in assets.
Obstacles on the way.
Being a woman, professional unregistered, and French abroad. My arrival in the conservative world of insurance in 1981.In GAN, Editor’s Note), it was quite a shock.
Accelerators to your journey.
I moved into the world of finance in 1987 (Under GAN, Editor’s Note), at the age of 31. I have been much happier since then.
In 1996, I started with less than a million dollars. Five years later, we surpassed three billion in assets
Dominic Senequie
A challenge for tomorrow.
At Ardian, the succession is under shared leadership, even if I remain in a strategic and advisory role. After my selection into the academy, I theoretically became an Immortal… (Is laughing): I will try to maintain the requirements of this role among my colleagues. So read, read, soak up the philosophy, political history and ideas…
Defining your influence.
It does not exist without legitimacy or some intellectual authority. The opposite inevitably leads to confusion.
What would you like to convey?
So many things… After all, I should have been a teacher. Maybe one day I will write a book.
Source: Le Figaro
