Key Opportunities for Investors on Listed Private Equity by Edison Research

By
HedgeThink

investment

Listed private equity funds have recently been trading at wide discounts to net asset value of more than 20%, despite good investment performance over the last five years

Recent corporate activity underpins a potential value case with the market starting to understand the mis-match between low LPE valuations and strong investment performance

Significant untapped potential to grow the sector as private client wealth managers are under-represented on LPE shareholder lists

Edison, the international equity research and investor relations firm, has issued the first in a series of in-depth reports on the listed private equity (LPE) sector which examines the key opportunities and issues for investors.

With LPE funds trading at wide discounts to net asset value (NAV) of more than 20%, there is significant untapped potential to grow the sector and attract traditional wealth managers, private client brokers and retail investors as shareholders, which are currently under-represented on LPE funds’ registers. Recent corporate activity such as the bid by HarbourVest for SVG Capital indicates that the market is beginning to realise the mismatch between low LPE valuations and strong investment performance.

  • LPE funds are easily accessible and open up the PE asset class to the whole universe of public market investors. The minimum investment of one share, allows smaller investors to take advantage of the diverse opportunities available across vintages, strategies, geographies and sectors.
  • A listed PE investment offers daily liquidity. The shares of an LPE fund are traded on an exchange giving the investment a clear valuation. Investors can manage their cash flows easily and avoid the funding risk associated with a traditional LP structure.
  • Some LPE funds choose to pay dividends, often out of realisations, which is more akin to the way a traditional LP makes distributions.
  • Investors in LPE funds have less granular disclosure around the underlying investments than traditional LPs, but investors have access to third-party information and research to help them compare funds and strategies and to monitor their investments.
  • LPE funds tend not to have explicit NAV discount management policies, but some have demonstrated a commitment to shareholder value through opportunistic buy-backs during periods of elevated discounts.
  • LPE funds benefit from an independent board whose duty it is to represent the interest of shareholders.

Robert Murphy, analyst and global head of financials and investment trusts, said: “LPE is an accessible, liquid way to invest in an attractive asset class without the complexity and funding risk of direct PE investing. There are a range of funds and strategies available giving the investor choice and the opportunity to diversify.

Given the intuitive appeal of LPE, there appears to be significantly untapped potential to grow the sector which represents a small proportion of the overall PE industry. The shareholder registers of LPE funds do not on average reflect the growing dominance of private client wealth managers and sophisticated retail investors in the investment company sector as a whole and as a result LPE funds have recently been trading at wide discounts to net asset value of more than 20%, even though underlying investment performance has been good over the last five years.

The wide discount between LPE funds’ trading price and NAV can be attributed in large part to the dearth of both in depth analysis available to the investor community and funds’ engagement with a wider investor group. For LPE funds to be considered more mainstream and the price discount to NAV narrow, investor engagement needs to be increased.

Sophisticated investors meanwhile may see the current mismatch in public versus internal pricing as an opportunity to tap into unrealised strong underlying investment performance of LPE funds. The recent bid by HarbourVest for SVG Capital provides a strong indication that sophisticated investors are ahead of the game and ready to take a calculated risk that there are gains to be made from the price to NAV discounts. Opportunities exist for a wider pool of investors looking to take advantage of price to NAV discounts in LPE funds which may not be justified purely on value fundamentals.”

About Edison

Edison, founded in 2003, is a strategic advisory and investment research company. We service nearly 500 corporate clients with Investor Relations, Investment Research and Strategic Consulting from our offices in North America, Europe and Asia. Edison’s renowned international investment research platform enables us to provide a highly differentiated approach to strategic advisory work based on deep multi-sector knowledge and extensive networks of investors, advisors and companies.

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