ICG Enterprise Trust Newsletter – January 2024

2025 outlook from our Portfolio Managers.

Happy New Year! We hope you all had a restful break.

We start the year feeling optimistic for 2025. Indicators are generally pointing to continued economic growth, a reduction in interest rates, and a more business friendly environment. There are, of course, continuing uncertainties in the world but we believe that our managers are well placed to navigate them – the last five years have definitely provided some practice!

Reflecting on our discussions with private equity managers in recent months, this optimism seems to be widely shared, with many expecting:

  • Continued rate stability, though perhaps fewer interest rate cuts in 2025 than previously expected;
  • Corporate earnings remaining strong;
  • Private market transaction activity increasing;
  • Increasing growth in the secondaries market.

So what does that mean for how we are managing ICG Enterprise Trust? We are well positioned for a recovery in transaction volumes with commitments made in the last two years to a diversified group of top tier managers sowing the seeds for a period of strong deployment. We continue to focus on creating a flexible balance sheet and liquidity – we increased the size of our credit facility in late December (see here) in anticipation of future portfolio growth.

As we return to the office, our core priorities are:

  • Identifying optimal new opportunities across primaries, secondaries and co-investments. We expect to see more investment activity in co-investments and secondaries
  • Active management of our existing Portfolio: we have a rigorous portfolio monitoring process to identify attractive secondary sale opportunities
  • A focus on optimising shareholder returns through strong investment performance supported by our progressive dividend policy and our buyback programmes

Over the long term we aim to generate long-term compounding growth for our shareholders. Our portfolio of strongly performing North American and European companies positions us well for that and whatever the year ahead has in store.

With our best wishes for 2025,
Oliver & Colm

Past performance is not reliable indicator of future results.

Unsure of some of these terms? See our Glossary