Christopher Samuel, chair of Scottish Mortgage Trust (SMT), will take charge of Oakley Capital Investments (OCI) next March.
The former chief executive of Ignis Asset Management will join the £954m listed private equity fund as a non-executive director on 17 November and become its chair after a four-month transition when interim chair Steve Pearce steps down.
He will succeed Caroline Foulger, who stood down in September after nine years on the board.
Samuel, who in addition to chairing the £12.6bn Baillie Gifford flagship also sits on the board of wealth manager Quilter (QLT), already owns 22,398 shares in OCI. He stated his intention was to narrow the company’s 25% share price discount.
He said: “I look forward to working with the board as we explore various strategies to improve OCI’s rating, and drive shareholder returns.”
Also joining as a non-exec is commercial lawyer Kiernan Bell. Both appointments are subject to shareholder approval at the annual general meeting next September.
The announcement came alongside a subdued third quarter update from the investor in seven Oakley Capital private equity funds, following a 7.1% gain in the previous half-year.
Net asset value (NAV) dropped 1.5% to £1.24bn in the three months to 30 September against a market backdrop the investment company described as “challenging”, in contrast to more positive recent assessments of a recovery in deal-making from other private equity funds, such as HarbourVest (HVPE) and Molten Ventures (GROW).
OCI said NAV per share slipped 11p to 730p, mostly from financing costs. Portfolio company valuations were broadly stable with those providing content, IP services, testing and compliance solutions, and education the best performers, benefiting from healthy demand.
Value-adding acquisitions by Oakley’s largest “buy-and-build” platforms in business services and education also contributed to growth, it said.
These gains were offset by a further decline in the listed shares of Time Out (TMO). Oakley Capital holds a 38% stake in the British media and hospitality company which cut its full-year profit forecast in August.
“With a share price return of -76% year to date, the best we can say about Time Out (2.7% of NAV as at 30 June) is that it is becoming too small to be a significant detractor going forward,” Winterflood analyst Shavar Halberstadt said in a note to investors.
There was also weaker performance at portfolio companies ACE Education and ProductLife Group, a French life sciences consultancy.
Despite the negative underlying return, the total return to shareholders over the quarter was good at 9.4%, reflecting a positive period for the share price as the discount, or gap to NAV, narrowed from 31%, helped by £29m of share buybacks.
OCI is the third best-performer of 14 London-listed private equity funds over five years with a 131% total shareholder return. Underlying growth and discount narrowing have both contributed. Three years ago the shares stood 45% below the value of OCI’s investments.
