It’s the time of year when annual reviews of private equity are published. The consensus seems to be that 2024 was an improved year for activity compared with 2023, but liquidity remains a focus for investors. In its ‘2025 Market Overview’ Hamilton Lane, a highly respected private markets investor, cited three observations which resonate:
| Hamilton Lane said: | We say: |
|---|---|
| “We have said it many times and will say it again here: it would be hard to find a more lucrative, consistent investment arena than buyouts” (p22) | ICGT invests solely in buyouts in North America and Europe, with a focus on generating long-term compounding growth |
| “Revenue and EBITDA growth was a major reason for private equity’s outperformance in the ’22 and ’23 period” (p33) | ICGT’s portfolio companies reported 9.4% revenue growth and 13.9% EBITDA growth over the last 12 months1, which is higher than EBITDA growth for the FTSE All Share |
| “Everyone’s board or key stakeholders are asking their investment staff to show them managers and funds that have successfully navigated tough markets. However, the only groups with those track records are the ones that have been around for 20+ years, which tend to be the larger firms” (p87) | ICGT partners with top-tier managers with a strong track records and experienced teams who have navigated tough markets. In addition, ICGT’s investment committee has over 60 years of industry experience between them2 |
Partnering with top-tier managers
We recently saw a good example of these findings. We first invested in European Camping Group (“ECG”) in 2021, when tourism was beginning to recover from the impact of the COVID pandemic. We invested alongside a top-tier manager, PAI, who we have worked with for over 20 years. Since 2021, ECG has recovered strongly from the impact of the pandemic and has grown both organically and through acquisition. As a result of this, and less than four years after our first investment, ADIA, a sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, has purchased a 40% stake in the company. This sale crystallises a strong return today and preserves future upside as the company continues to consolidate its market leading position.
Recent shareholder engagement
The team have also had an active month of shareholder engagement, speaking to a range of audiences about ICGT and our investment strategy. We held an online webinar last week with a large group of UK wealth managers, where we focused on how our investment committee seeks to reduce risk and volatility to generate long-term compounding returns. We were also in Geneva two weeks ago at InvestEurope’s Investors’ Forum as part of a panel discussion on the merits of listed private equity. And Colm was invited to speak on the Money Makers podcast in early March (available here), where he speaks about many of these themes and his outlook for private equity.
The feedback from these events was positive, and we remain firm in our belief that ICGT is an attractive potential addition to portfolios as a way to access private equity for those seeking daily liquidity. As always, we are delighted to speak to any institutional investor or wealth manager who would like to explore that further with us.
With best wishes,
Oliver and Colm
1 Enlarged Perimeter, at 31 July 2024
2 See here for more information on our Investment Committee
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
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