Crédit Agricole CIB is the corporate and investment banking arm of the Crédit Agricole Group—the world's twelfth largest bank measured by tier 1 capital. Headquartered in Paris, with offices in London and New York, the Private Equity Solutions group specializes in providing financial products and advisory services for leveraged buyouts, infrastructure and real estate financing, equity bridge financing, high-yield bonds and global transaction banking solutions dedicated to funds and portfolio companies.
Ahlem Ben Gueblia
Director, Private Equity Fund Solutions, London
Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank
Frederic Bambuck
Director, Private Equity Fund Solutions, New York
Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank
2004
Year founded
305
Serviced deals as of November 2020
To help drive value for its clients across the globe—and determine which fund managers the group wants to work with—Crédit Agricole CIB uses PitchBook’s comprehensive capital market data and analysis tools to help it conduct due diligence on fund managers and stay up to date on emerging trends within the private markets.
Conducting due diligence on fund managers
Leveraging analyst research to track the private markets
“PitchBook has been an invaluable tool for us—especially when conducting due diligence during the credit process.”
—Ahlem Ben Gueblia, Director of Private Equity Fund Solutions, London, Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank
Conducting due diligence on investors
According to Ahlem Ben Gueblia, Director of Crédit Agricole CIB’s Private Equity Fund Solutions office in London, the group’s business is not focused solely on pricing. “It’s also about developing long-term relationships with our clients,” she says. Finding the right information about managers, investors and highest performing vehicles for her team’s clients is essential for building and maintaining those relationships.
Ben Gueblia’s counterpart in the United States, Frederic Bambuck, Director of Crédit Agricole CIB’s Private Equity Fund Solutions office in New York, agrees. “The way fund finance is, we need to be relationship driven,” he says, “and we use PitchBook as a tool to support that.”
By using PitchBook’s granular data on more than 59,000 funds worldwide, Ben Gueblia and Bambuck’s teams are able to access important details about specific funds and fund managers that are not available through third-party benchmarks, including portfolio construction, investment mandates, industry and/or sector focus—as well as narrower definitions on fund size and location. They can even see how much capital a specific fund manager has called from LPs, an individual funds’ distributions to date and its fundraising history.
“This has made PitchBook an invaluable tool for us,” Ben Gueblia says. “Especially when conducting due diligence during the credit process. It allows us to go quite deep into fund manager’s activity while also letting us see each fund’s historical performance within the broader landscape. The information is updated regularly, which is very helpful.”
Bambuck uses PitchBook’s Mobile app to find the same detailed information while he’s on the road and before meetings. “I do a quick search for a specific asset manager or fund and look at historical performance of funds or the evolution of the capital on the called-on funds,” he says. “I use it every day because it’s so convenient. Before I look anywhere else for information, I check the app.”
Crédit Agricole CIB Private Equity Solutions
5
Years in operation
12
People
4
Booking centers
82
Deals closed
€8.4B
Commitments on Crédit Agricole CIB Private Equity Solutions portfolio
Leveraging analyst research to track the private markets
By providing insights across the entire landscape of private capital—from LPs and commitments down to GPs, funds, investments, companies and individuals—PitchBook’s daily newsletter and analyst reports also help Ben Gueblia and Bambuck’s teams stay up to date on where deals are happening, what verticals are seeing outsized returns and what other investors and corporations are doing.
“I regularly start my mornings by checking the PitchBook Mobile app,” Bambuck says. “I read The Daily Pitch newsletter to see if there’s information that pertains to existing clients or existing transactions.”
“I use the PitchBook mobile app every day. Before I look anywhere else for information, I check the app.”
—Frederic Bambuck, Director of Private Equity Fund Solutions, New York, Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank
Ben Gueblia also references PitchBook’s newsletter and quarterly reports to stay current on what is happening in the private markets. “PitchBook’s newsletters and reports are always helpful and full of useful information,” she says.
That is because PitchBook’s news and analysis offers immediate, informed insights into market sizes, key players, trends, industry metrics and M&A activity worldwide—while making it easily discoverable.
By simply logging in to PitchBook’s Research Center, Ben Gueblia and Bambuck’s teams are able to access the most valuable content fast, and even receive relevant market research alongside all their advanced search results—so they do not have to scroll through more than 130,000 PitchBook reports to find what they need.
Crédit Agricole CIB's services to investors
84
Funds currently financed by Crédit Agricole CIB Private Equity Solutions
13
Deals where Crédit Agricole CIB is the facility agent
€330B
Of funds total capital commitments financed
4,540
Investors on Crédit Agricole CIB Private Equity Solutions Funds portfolio
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