23rd Oct 2019 09:01
(Alliance News) - HarbourVest Global Private Equity Ltd on Wednesday reported a rise in net assets over the first half of the year, with the company achieving strong growth from its Venture & Growth Equity portfolio.
At July 31, the private equity investor recorded a NAV per share of USD25.80, 7.1% higher than the USD24.09 reported at January 31.
"We have continued to make excellent progress over the last six months, with this being reflected in both the growth of NAV per share, and the share price," said Chair Michael Bunbury.
Shares in HarbourVest Global Private Equity were 0.6% higher in London on Wednesday morning at 1,700.00 pence each, which represents a 17% rise over the previous six months.
In the first half, HarbourVest Global's benchmark, the FTSE All World index, gained 8.3%, outperforming the company's NAV growth.
"Investors in HVPE's shares should always look beyond short-term movements in NAV per share and discounts. Private equity is an asset class for long-term investors who must be able to tolerate short-term changes in fashion and look towards long-term material outperformance over listed equity markets such as HVPE's NAV per share has demonstrated since inception of the company," added Bunbury.
In the twelve months to July 31, HarbourVest Global had a NAV return of 13%, this time outperforming its benchmark, which gained 3.3%.
HarbourVest Global ended the half with net assets of USD2.06 billion, 7.3% higher than the USD1.92 billion recorded at the end of January.
The firm's investment manager, HarbourVest Partners, said: "During the six months there was a USD141.7 million net gain on investments, contributing to an overall increase in net assets of USD136.3 million. The net gain in this financial period was driven by a broadly equal mix of realised and unrealised gains on the portfolio."
In percentage terms, the Secondary portfolio was the best-performing strategy, delivering value growth of 8.8%, the investment manager said.
Geographically, the strongest gains came from the Asia Pacific portfolio, which generated a value increase of 12%; this was followed by the Rest of World assets, which returned 8.8%.
In terms of stage, Venture & Growth Equity was the strongest performer, growing 13% over the six months. This was followed by Real Assets, which returned 9.5%.
Bunbury added: "In the face of global political uncertainty, the company's investment manager, HarbourVest Partners, with over 36 years of experience of investing in private markets behind them, and the board will strive to continue to drive forward the long-term growth of the company for the benefit of all shareholders."
By Paul McGowan; [email protected]
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