Literacy Capital (BOOK) owns a concentrated portfolio of small UK unquoted companies and was founded by the father-and-son team of Paul and Richard Pindar in 2017 with initial funding of £54m. It joined the Specialist Funds Segment of the London market in June 2021 at 160p per share and a £96m valuation, but raised no fresh capital. Unlike other private equity trusts, it charges no performance fee or carried interest. It donates 0.5% annually to literacy charities, in addition to its 1.5% management fee. Strong early returns saw BOOK's share price climb above £5 by mid-2023, often trading at a...
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After spending much of the 2010s trading at somewhat narrower discounts, private equity trusts saw their ratings deteriorate sharply in 2022 to their widest level since the financial crisis. While discounts across the sector have narrowed a little since, most still trade at wider than 20% despite their fairly impressive long-term performance records. In this article, we look at the history of private equity discounts, how they have varied by trust, and what steps each is taking to improve its rating. In short, while much progress has been made over the last couple of years, some trusts have ma...
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Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook, talks to Paul Pindar, the former CEO of Capita, the listed outsourcing business, and his son Richard about Literacy Capital, the private equity investment fund they founded and have been running since 2017. The trust (ticker: BOOK) listed in 2021 and was granted investment trust status earlier this year. It donates an amount equivalent to 0.9% of its Net Asset Value each year to support charities dedicated to improving literacy in the UK.
Paul Pindar, chairman of Literacy Capital BOOK has made a successful start to life as a listed com...
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UPDATE: A revised version of this profile was published on 30 September 2026.
Literacy Capital (ticker: BOOK) joined the market in June 2021 and has seen its share price soar from 160p to around 400p due to an enormous increase in the value of its portfolio of UK unquoted businesses. Set up by Capita co-founder and ex-CEO Paul Pindar and his son Richard, Literacy aims to take a different approach to private equity, backing smaller businesses on a long-term basis and charging no performance fees. It also donates 0.9% of its NAV each year to literacy charities. Literacy raised £54m from investo...
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