Christian Mayes, Portfolio Adviser, 22 July 2025:
The first ever take-private deal for a private equity investment trust is “bittersweet” for retail investors, according to industry commentators, after the board of Apax Global Alpha agreed terms with Ares Management.
The £794m cash offer, which is subject to shareholder approval, comes at an 18.8% premium to Apax Global Alpha’s closing share price.
The investment trust had been trading at a “wide and persistent discount”, meaning it was unable to able to commit further capital to its underlying portfolio of private equity funds..
QuotedData senior analyst Matthew Read said while the offer represents a first for the sector, a take-private deal seemed “inevitable” at some point, given the significant discounts that continue to persist within the listed private equity space.
“We have long argued that many of these discounts look overdone, particularly once you factor in that the NAVs of these funds tend to be conservatively valued – with assets often displaying decent valuation uplifts on disposal – and that, in some cases, these NAVs are cyclically depressed. In this instance, we would like to have seen an exit closer to asset value as the NAV calculation is recent and looks reasonable.”
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