In December, Partners Group Listed Investments SICAV – Listed Private Equity further increased in value and outperformed broader equity markets comfortably, leading to the Fund’s highest annual return since inception. Overall equity markets performed strongly on the back of various positive news. The US and China have reached a “phase I” deal to resolve the trade dispute and, in the UK, a large majority for Prime Minister Boris Johnson provided a clearer path to Brexit and reduced political uncertainty. During the month, all sectors contributed positively to the Fund’s performance with Fund of Funds being the best performers.
NB Private Equity Partners, a British Investment Manager, has been among the strongest performers this month. The company published quarterly results with solid NAV growth across the portfolio, confirming the positive market environment. During the first nine months, six portfolio holdings were successfully exited, including Assurant (formerly The Warranty Group) and Berlin Packaging, generating a 2.5x gross multiple and a 24% gross IRR.
Another positive contributor to this month’s performance was Wendel, a French direct investment company.
Management successfully streamlined the strategy and divested smaller investments to focus on its core holdings. In December, Wendel completed a significant add-on acquisition for one of its largest portfolio companies IHS, a telecom tower operator. So far, the company has focused on fast growing regions in Africa but through the acquisition of Cell Site Solutions – Cessão De Infraestruturas, they expanded into Latin America and became a leading tower operator in emerging markets.