The Standard Life European Private Equity Trust (SLEPET) has reported net asset value (NAV) total return for the six months to 31 March 2016 of 11.3 per cent. NAV total return for the 12 months to 31 March 2016 was 17.4 per cent.
The NAV at 31 March 2016 rose 10.2 per cent to 310.2p (30 September 2015; 281.6p) including the payment of a final dividend of 3.5p per ordinary share for the year ended 30 September 2015 in the period.
The Board has declared an interim dividend of 1.80p to be paid on 15 July 2016. It remains the Board’s intention, subject to unforeseen circumstances, to maintain, at least, the real value of last year’s 5.25p dividend for the full year.
The closing mid-market price of the ordinary shares on 31 March 2016 was 204.0p, a decrease of 4.7 per cent over the period and a discount of 34.2 per cent to the NAV.
The closing price of the ordinary shares on 25 March 2016 was 224.0p
As a result of strong exit activity, reflecting the maturity of the portfolio, the Trust received GBP80.4 million of distributions and funded GBP34.4 million. Net cash inflow was GBP46.0 million.
At 31 March 2016 the Trust had liquid resources of GBP94.0 million. The Trust also has an undrawn GBP80 million syndicated revolving credit facility.
One new fund commitment was completed in the period. EUR45.0 million was invested in Advent International GPE VIII, a $13.0 billion global private equity fund. In addition, one secondary fund purchase was made in Towerbrook Investors III. An original commitment of $60.0 million was acquired for GBP19.1 million, at a discount of 6.1 per cent to the 30 September 2015 fund valuation.
At 31 March 2016 the Company had GBP271.5 million of outstanding commitments. The Manager anticipates that up to GBP55 million of these commitments will not be drawn.
During the period from 31 March 2016 to 25 May 2016 the Company received GBP9.7 million of distributions and funded GBP3.5 million of drawdowns. The Company also made a new fund commitment of EUR26.0 million to the Sixth Cinven Fund.
Roger Pim, Managing Partner of SL Capital Partners (Manager of Standard Life European Private Equity Trust plc), says: “The performance of the Trust over the past six months reflects our consistent focus of investing in a conviction portfolio of private equity funds managed by Europe’s leading private equity firms. This is achieved through attractive primary commitments as well as secondary transactions where we find value through our opportunistic approach. Exit activity from the mature portfolio of underlying private companies continues to generate strong cash flows with a high realised multiple of invested cost. Coupled with the recent rise in the share price, these results demonstrate the quality and resilience of our net asset value and give confidence over the longer term prospects for the Trust.”
