HarbourVest Global Private Equity was launched in 2007 and is the largest fund-of-funds private equity trust with gross assets of around £3.5bn and a market cap of £2.4bn. Its NAV returns since inception are just over 10% a year, around two percentage points ahead of global markets, making it one of the best long-term performers in its sector. Like many private equity trusts, however, it has long traded at a wide discount. After doing very little in the way of discount control for many years, it has announced a range of measures since 2022, including allocating 30% of distributions received to...
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3i Group (ticker: III) was founded in 1945 as the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation to provide funds for smaller UK companies. It joined the London market in 1994, but its shareholders endured a rocky first fifteen years, with strong gains in the TMT boom and in the run-up to the financial crisis, followed in both cases by sharp drawdowns. A rescue rights issue in 2009 put 3i's finances on a firmer footing. Then, in 2012, Simon Borrows was appointed as its CEO, and he streamlined both the business and its investment approach. In 2011, 3i invested in a Dutch discount retailer called...
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Patria Private Equity (PPET), previously known as Standard Life Private Equity and abrdn Private Equity Opportunities, celebrates its 25th anniversary as a listed company next month. Since its inception, its annualised NAV return is 10.9% versus 6.1% for the FTSE All-Share, while its annualised share price return has been 9.6%. PPET concentrates on European mid-market deals where entry valuations are between £100m and £1bn. It has nearly 700 underlying investments, working with many different private equity managers, but the majority of its holdings are with 17 core partners. Direct investment...
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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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UPDATE: After a share price decline in early 2026 on concerns that AI could reduce software industry revenues, HGT said Hg and its staff planned to increase their collective stake in the trust from 6% to 15% over the medium term, alongside ongoing share repurchases. Valhalla Ventures, the O'Hare family's holding company, has built a significant stake in the trust as well.
HgCapital Trust (ticker: HGT) was launched in 1989 and has been one of the best-performing trusts over the last 30 years. It invests in around 50 unquoted companies, held via various private equity funds run by Hg Capital, ...
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UPDATE: Long-time manager Hamish Mair retired in May 2026, with Andrew Carnwath stepping up from deputy to lead manager.
CT Private Equity (ticker: CTPE) was set up in 1999 to take on around £100m of unquoted assets from the Martin Currie-managed Scottish Eastern Investment Trust. After a couple of share reorganisations, the management team moved from Martin Currie to F&C in 2005 (F&C was subsequently taken over by BMO and then Columbia Threadneedle). Hamish Mair has looked after the portfolio since 1999 through all its various incarnations. CTPE was one of many private equity trusts ...
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ICG Enterprise Trust (ticker: ICGT) was launched in 1981 making it the second-oldest trust in the private equity sector after 3i. It was originally known as F&C Enterprise and then Graphite Enterprise. Intermediate Capital Group acquired the company's advisers in late 2015 and since then the trust has been known as ICG Enterprise. ICGT's approach has evolved over time and the last several years have seen an increased focus on mid-market buyout deals and North America. ICGT describes its style as 'defensive growth' and it invests in a variety of primary and secondary private equity funds wh...
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Private equity
The great debate about listed private equity trusts goes on. With some of the biggest trusts trading on persistent 40-50% discounts, the share prices either represent tremendous bargains or are advertising a warning that the sector is heading for a painful meeting with reality - but which is it? As regular readers will know, although I have long held a shareholding in HG Capital (HGT), I have never had much enthusiasm for private equity as a class. While happily acknowledging that private ownership in the right hands is often a superior business model, and the returns have b...
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UPDATE: On an NAV total return basis, OCI returned +24% in 2022, +4% in 2023, +2% in 2024, +6% in 2025, and +6% in the first half of 2026, making it one of the better-performing private equity trusts over the past three and five years. In the eighteen months since March 2025, it has bought back around 7% of its shares, but its discount to NAV has remained wide and averaged around 30% over the year to September 2026.
Oakley Capital Investments (ticker: OCI) is a private equity trust that was launched on the Alternative Investment Market in 2007 when it raised £100m. It moved to the Specialist ...
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UPDATE: PIN has tried a number of measures to reduce its discount over the last few years, but it still remains at a wide level. It bought back £200m of its shares in 2023 and has since made significant ongoing buybacks. It has also reduced its management fee, sold some funds on the secondary market, and shifted towards more direct investments and working with 25 core private equity firms. Charlotte Morris took over as the Pantheon partner responsible for the trust at the end of 2025, replacing Helen Steers, who retired. The trust's NAV returns over the last few years have been similar to mos...
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