Even on a dark and drizzly November evening in Paris’s first arrondissement, it is difficult not to be impressed by Ardian’s office in Place Vendôme.

Situated between a Chanel boutique and a Van Cleef & Arpels jewellers, the baroque building, with its red-carpeted marble stairs and frescoed ceilings, seems a world away from the ultra-modern skyscrapers that characterise La Défense, the sprawling business district located on the western side of the city.