Investment Trust Insider on HgCapital- James Carthew: my pick of the private equity trust bunch
After last week’s exhortation to invest in private equity via funds with experienced and well-resourced teams, I thought I should provide an example: HgCapital (HGT), a £735 million investment trust, that last month won promotion to the FTSE 250 index.
HGT has generated an average 9.7% annual total return on net assets over the past 10 years. Only three UK-listed private equity funds have done better and, of those, Northern Investors (NRI) and Electra (ELTA) are both on the way out. That leaves Oakley Capital (OCI) whose annualised NAV total return over 10 years has been 10.3% though five-year shareholder returns have been less impressive.
Hg Capital Trust makes direct co-investments alongside, and invests in, unlisted limited partnership funds managed by its fund manager Hg Capital. The trust is, in effect, one of the manager’s most important clients but also benefits from having an independent board.
There has been some evolution in the manager’s investment focus over the years. When I last wrote about the trust in 2013, it listed technology, media & telecoms, healthcare, industrials, services and renewable energy as its target sectors. Today,… read more