Neuberger Private Equity Partners (NBPE), the £562m co-investor in unquoted companies, has announced $146.5m (£109m) of disposals just over two weeks after activist Saba Capital disclosed a 5% stake in its heavily discounted shares.
Three full and two partial sales of investments in September and October generated proceeds of $81m, 7% below their valuation at the end of last year.
The investment company also sold its third biggest investment in US industrial manufacturer OneMonroe for $65.5m at a price 11% above the December valuation.
NBPE’s shares currently stand on a 26% discount to their 30 September net asset value (NAV). It said the money raised would be redeployed in share buybacks and new investments to rebalance the portfolio towards higher growth opportunities. The company had already doubled its share buyback programme to $240m (£178m) in June.
The company also revealed it had swapped its investment in European discount retailer Action for shares in its private equity backer 3i Group (III). The exchange last month was calculated at a 3i share price of £31.31. The shares are subject to lock-up restrictions and were valued at $64m at the end of September.
The portfolio fell 2% last month with NAV of $27.58 (£20.76) at 30 September. While buying back its cheap shares added 1.4% to NAV, this was offset by the discounted disposals, falls in some of its listed holdings, currency movements and expenses.
NBPE firmed 0.4% to £15.34 this morning. The shares have underperformed over three and five years to 30 September with 2.5% and 2.9% annualised returns compared to the 21.9% and 12.4% annualised advances in the MSCI World index.
The FTSE All Share is also ahead of NBPE with annualised returns over the same periods of 15.5% and 11%.
Only over 10 years does NBPE do better with a 10.1% annualised shareholder return that beats the All Share’s 8.1% but still trails the MSCI World’s 13.4%, according to figures from the company.
Our view
David Batchelor, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “The sharp acceleration in realisations gives NBPE considerably more room to keep buying back shares while refreshing an ageing portfolio. Signed proceeds of $299m represent 25% of opening portfolio value, while $112m spent on buybacks this year has retired 14.5% of the shares outstanding at the end of 2025. With those purchases made at an average 29% discount, the impact has been meaningful: September’s buybacks alone added around $0.38 to NAV per share, while repurchases since the start of 2025 have added $1.45.
“NBPE is not simply shrinking the portfolio, with $187m committed to 10 new investments this year as it shifts capital towards younger, faster-growing businesses. September’s 2% NAV fall does temper the picture, with some older investments realised below their December valuations and quoted holdings and currency movements also detracting.”
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