Apax Global Alpha has announced its final results to 31 December 2015. These are its first set of results since listing on the London Stock Exchange in June 2015. During the twelve months to 31 December 2015, the adjusted NAV (i.e. NAV excluding performance fee reserves), increased by €110.7m to €923.6m, which the company says is due to investment performance. This is equivalent to a total return of 13.6%. The company’s announcement highlights that this compares favourably against the major benchmark indices despite difficult markets during the year.
The adjusted NAV per share is €1.88 (equivalent to £1.38 at 31 December 2015), up from €1.66 pro-forma at 31 December 2014 (an increase of 13.6%). The company has announced its first semi-annual dividend of 3.69 pence per share, equivalent to 2.5% of NAV at 31 December 2015. As at the 31 December 2015 the company was fully invested and had a cash balance of €22.9m.
The company says that its portfolio is now well balanced with a split between private equity and derived investments of 52%/48%. They say that the sector exposure is balanced across all Apax Partners’ focus industries and that, as at 31 December 2015, Services had the strongest weight, accounting for 31% of the invested portfolio. The portfolio is biased towards North America, which represented 57% of the invested portfolio at 31 December 2015.
The managers say that both Private Equity and Derived Investments, showing resilience and robust trading throughout 2015. They say that Apax Private Equity funds are exploiting strong exit markets and have returned €24.6m to the company since 31 December 2014. In terms of new private equity investments, they say that Apax Private Equity funds made 13 new investments in 2015, thereof 11 new investments by Apax VIII and two by AMI.
Within the derived investments portfolio, the managers say that they have fully exited four debt investments and five listed equity investments, realising total proceeds of €125.4m. In addition, partial realisations totalled proceeds of €1.0m.However, the company also made ten new investments in debt, two add-ons to current debt positions and four new investments in listed equities totalling €249.1m in the year.
The managers say that, with the increased volatility in the markets, new interesting investment opportunities arise and that the company will continue to exploit value opportunities, including those opened up by market dislocations.
A strong start for Apax Global Alpha : APAX