Private Equity

When this biotech engineer met up with WNT Financial’s crack venture capitalism team, it sparked a partnership that could lead to a lifesaving product being put in the hands of doctors worldwide.

WNT Ventures was an early adopter into a grant scheme designed to nurture technology and innovation in New Zealand. After ten years, and as it prepares to launch its fourth fund, WNT’s Maria Jose Alvarez reflects on the journey.

“There are a range of different ways to invest in the energy transition thematic,” Fortitude explains, adding that the opportunities on the periphery often present the greatest value.

As market conditions turn, private debt is expected to lead the charge of private capital disbursement across the globe, with special purpose vehicles increasingly at the heart of deals according to a new study.

As the world of private capital expands, and advisers depend on it more as an alternative diversifier, one group has questioned whether advice clients know enough about it and if more education is required.

Getting a good business in a good market with good people is just the start for this highly connected Brisbane funds management team. The next step involves a network of specialist consultants that know how to scale.

Cashed-up baby boomers in the market for yield are finding that it’s increasingly being delivered by non-listed assets with a palatable risk profile. And that’s not the only tailwind behind the burgeoning sector.

An enduring structural feature of Barwon’s PE fund is that it doesn’t invest in the companies that require capital, it invests in the companies that provide it. For advisers, that means exposure to the fabled PE illiquidity premium, but with access to daily redemptions.  

Trust may be hard to win, but it’s even harder to win back once it’s broken. For private equity managers, keeping a sharp eye out for honesty and transparency is a key part of the company discovery process.

Like the Reserve Bank, ASIC is keenly aware that the rise of private markets, and especially private equity, creates both “upside and downside risks” to an efficient and fair economy. But it’s ASIC that sits in the first line of defence, and its new cohort of commissioners are determined to keep this burgeoning market clean.

Every investor wants access to the private markets, and every manager – established or otherwise – wants to help them get it. But when there’s a new product every day, how many of them will be any good?

Money managers are rising to meet the capital demands of companies wanting to stay private for longer. These days, though, they’re doing it with a strategic mindset that properly encapsulates a spectrum of investment maturity periods.