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Private Corner strengthens its equity with minority investment from Armen

Press release - May 11th, 2023

Private Corner, the first French digital platform to enable access to private markets investing to individual investors, announces a minority stake investment by Armen, a pioneer in European GP stakes. Armen’s management company will hold up to 30% of the capital of Private Corner’s management company.

Founded in 2020 by Estelle Dolla, Thomas Renaudin and Yves Caron, Private Corner offers the wealth management and private banking community and their clients access to leading private market investment funds. For decades such access has been reserved only for a limited group of institutional investors. The company is authorised by the French financial regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF).

To date, Private Corner has offered 25 funds from leading French and international private market funds with an emphasis on private equity buyouts, growth and real assets, and has grown its assets under management (AuM) to over €400 million. Through its extensive network of 250 distribution partners, including wealth management and private banking advisors, family offices and private banks, Private Corner now serves more than 1,800 individual investors globally. Private Corner will benefit from the operational support and experience of Armen, and will accelerate its expansion in France and across Europe. With Armen’s support, the company will strengthen its team, build its commercial offer, and continue to invest in the development of its digital platform. As an active minority shareholder, Armen will sit on Private Corner's supervisory board but will not sit on the company’s fund selection committee.

Estelle Dolla, President and Co-founder of Private Corner, said:

"We were looking for a strategic partner to accelerate our development while retaining our independence in relation to wealth managers and private bankers, distributors and the wider ecosystem of private markets managers. The Armen team’s extensive experience will be an invaluable asset for the next chapter of the growth of Private Corner. Their in-depth knowledge of the private markets industry will allow us to further scale our platform across Europe and we look forward to working together with Armen."

Laurent Bénard, Chief Executive Officer at Armen, said:

"Private Corner's innovative technology is well-established and the company has built a strong reputation for its ability to meet the evolving needs of the wealth management community and their clients. Its success in the two years since it was founded is testament to the quality of its management team and its robust business model, and showcases exactly why it is the right firm to partner with to empower the management companies backed by Armen to raise funds from individual investors in a scalable way.”

Dominique Gaillard, Chairman, Co-founder of Armen, said:

“From an Armen perspective, our investment in Private Corner showcases our commitment to bringing our wider experience and skills to the advantage of our portfolio companies and GPs within our community. By partnering with Private Corner, our ambition is to deliver the best possible guidance for the management teams and enhance their ability to bring their products to the wealth management channel.”

The announcement follows the news that Armen welcomed a strategic minority investment from a group of leading French family offices as well as the first close of Armen GP Stakes Fund I at EUR 150 million. Last month, Armen also completed its first investment in RGREEN INVEST, an independent French management company specialising in energy transition infrastructure, with €1.9 billion under management.

Legal & Advisors

  • Leuwen (M&A advisors): Alexandre Hénault, Grégory Edberg and Georges Daou
  • Archers (Legal): Kamal Naffi, Pierre-Emmanuel Simon, Antoine Roux and Moïra Boublil

About Private Corner:

Approved by the AMF, a pioneer in its market and a benchmark player in France, Private Corner provides wealth management and private banking specialists with an integrated digital platform, from KYC to reporting, giving access from €100,000 upwards to a selection of leading investment funds, usually reserved for institutional investors.

Private Corner is a company approved by the AMF as a portfolio management company on 05/11/2020 under the number GP-20000038.

www.private-corner.eu

About Armen:

Armen is a mission-driven company which aims to contribute to a positive change in the private equity ecosystem and to responsibly steer management companies and their holdings towards a sustainable future. Armen's first fund invests as a minority shareholder in European alternative investment companies through transactions called GP Stakes.

Armen is regulated by the French financial regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), as a portfolio management company since 07/09/2022 under the number GP-202222.

www.armen.eu

For all media enquiries

UK Headland armen@headlandconsultancy.com

Carl Leijonhufvud CLeijonhufvud@headlandconsultancy.com +44 (0)79 0185 3494

Viktor Tsvetanov VTsvetanov@headlandconsultancy.com +44 (0)73 1136 9765

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