J.P. Morgan Private Equity has opened a tender offer to purchase up to three per cent of current equity shares, ZDP shares and 2015 ZDP shares outstanding.
Shares will be tendered at a price based on the prevailing net asset value as at 31 December 2010.
"Offering the tender is a direct result of the company’s strong balance sheet and the recent increase in distribution activity from underlying investments," says Trevor Ash, J.P. Morgan Private Equity’s chairman. "When distribution activity is sufficient we try to reward shareholders with the ability to periodically tender shares at NAV even when the stock price trades at a discount. JPEL is the only listed private equity fund to offer such a tender facility. Since its IPO in 2005, JPEL has returned over USD112m to shareholders through redemptions, tenders and market buy backs."
Although overall distribution activity has not returned to historical levels, the company had net distributions of USD15m during the second quarter of 2010. It has decided to offer a tender in an amount approximately equal to this net cash flow amount.
The future operation of the tender facility will be subject to various factors including positive distribution activity from the company’s underlying private equity investments and the overall health of the global economy.
The company’s board of directors and the manager will continue to monitor cash flows from its underlying investments in order to determine timing and appropriate levels for future tender offers.
J.P. Morgan Private Equity is a Guernsey registered and incorporated London Stock Exchange-listed, closed-ended investment company designed primarily to invest in the global private equity market.
