J.P.
J.P. Morgan Private Equity, the London Stock Exchange listed private equity secondary fund, has exceeded the company’s initial fundraising target by over 50 per cent.
Through a series of closings in July and August, JPEL has raised over USD75m.
‘We believe that the overwhelming support for the fundraising from our existing shareholders and new JPEL investors is a vote of confidence for opportunities available in the secondary private equity market,’ says JPEL chairman Trevor Ash. ‘Most of this capital was raised at a premium to the stock price while the JPEL share price rebounded by 30.6 per cent in the quarter ending June 30, further demonstrating the market’s faith in our strategy.’
‘We started meeting with existing and potential new shareholders in June, with an initial fundraising target of USD50m. With current funds raised at over USD75m, JPEL has received a strong response from investors,’ adds Gregory Getschow, JPEL’s portfolio manager. ‘We now have significant fresh capital to invest, and intend to use it in a way to drive NAV growth.’
JPEL closed at USD1.01 per US dollar equity share on 11 August 2009, representing a 24.6 per cent discount to 30 June 2009 NAV, approximately 25 percentage points narrower than the average discount of 50 per cent experienced by its peer group of listed private equity fund of funds.
JPEL’s primary strategy is to acquire secondary market portfolios of direct fund investments, significantly invested partnership interests and partially drawn commitments, in order to accelerate NAV development. It employs an opportunistic private equity investment strategy and focuses on value-oriented investments with potential for early return of capital.
From inception through 30 June 2009, JPEL’s NAV per US dollar equity share has grown 31.4 per cent from USD1.02 at inception versus declines of 22.8 per cent, 16.1 per cent and 58.3 per cent in the S&P 500, MSCI World Index and LPX indices, respectively.
The company has also announced that it will issue warrants free of subscription cost to shareholders on record as at 17 August 2009. One warrant will be issued for every six US dollar equity shares owned. The warrants will be publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, subject to all regulatory approvals and the strike price will be based on the company’s unaudited estimated 30 June 2009 NAV per US dollar equity share plus a premium.
