Exclusive: Former Eurazeo CEO targets over €500m for European climate fund

Ardabelle Capital, the Paris-based private equity firm co-founded by former Eurazeo chief executive Virginie Morgon, is targeting over €500m for its debut climate fund, Morgon tells Impact Loop.

The firm held a first close in November 2025. Bloomberg previously reported the figure at around €250m. Morgon did not confirm the exact amount but said the fund has already exceeded it.

“The market says 500 [euro]. It’s a bit more than this. And by the way, we are at a bit more already than whatever the market said the first close was,” she tells Impact Loop over video call.

Ardabelle launched formally in September 2024, following months of preparation that began in January of that year. The firm focuses on private equity buyouts of companies in European consumer supply chains, targeting businesses that help large corporates reduce their environmental footprint and build sourcing resilience.

Its first investment and acquisition is Plymag, a Spanish start biostimulant producer that sources seaweed from Iceland, Scandinavia, and South Africa for use in agriculture.

Pension funds and US money

The Environment Agency Pension Fund has joined as an LP, an announcement the pension fund made publicly this month. Morgon says institutional pension capital is rare in first-time funds.

“It’s actually quite tough to get pension funds directly in first-time funds,” she says. “We are thrilled that EAPF has chosen to invest in Ardabelle, because of who they are, because of their knowledge, because of their reputation.”

Bloomberg reported in November 2025 that the first close also included the European Investment Fund, Oddo BHF’s private equity arm, and French asset manager Swen Capital Partners.

US private equity firm TPG is another LP, Morgon confirmed to Impact Loop, adding that at least one other American investor has committed as well, but has asked not to be named.

She links the US interest to a broader shift she is seeing in climate capital flows. European climate funds, she argues, are now attracting American investors who view the continent as ahead on technology and regulatory frameworks.

“In my 30 years of career I haven’t seen, for quite a long time, a sector where we Europeans are being given the credibility of having started early, having the best technologies, and having developed the best solutions for the last decade,” she says.

A difficult market

Despite the traction, Morgon is candid about conditions. She describes the current fundraising environment as the hardest she has seen in 25 years, citing five consecutive difficult years following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“The cash is not coming back. The public markets are not really open. So the money is not going back to LPs and as a consequence the fundraising market is difficult,” she says.

Two or three further investments are in active pipeline, Morgon says. Sectors under consideration include ingredients, waste management and sorting, and testing and compliance.

Ardabelle also recently published a white paper arguing that the cost of climate inaction exceeds the cost of the transition itself, and that targeted investment in European supply chain resilience could generate returns of up to three times capital versus a baseline scenario.