Hardman's Mark Thomas gives an insiders view of Private Equity: #OCI, #ICGT, #PIN

We sat down with Hardman & Co's Head of Investment Companies, Mark Thomas and talked through three of his private equity clients, Oakley Capital Investments #OCI, ICG Enterprise Trust #ICGT and Pantheon International #PIN in depth.

As an analyst who writes research notes on these companies, Mark is privy to information which we as retail investors will never see. He believes each displays good defensive qualities in a downturn and can return superior growth to quoted companies.

So as 2020 draws to a close, this is a useful moment to see what his thoughts are on their defensive qualities, whether gearing has been a problem in the market shock of March 2020 and why he think these are all good long terms investments for those who can wait a year or two before withdrawing their money.

Each is a Closed-Ended Investment Fund. Pantheon gives investors access to the entire global private equity market, invests in all the asset classes and is a fund of funds. With ICGT what you have is focused and driven by defensive growth. Again its a global business but slightly more UK-focused, and it's also a fund of funds. With Oakley Capital you have direct investment, so its investing in the businesses directly, it has three sectors, consumer, where its tech-enabled primarily, technology and education, and even there its got tech-enabled education businesses.