CDI.L Share News (CDI)

By Marietta Cauchi Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Conversus Capital (CCAP.AE) Monday said it will continue to sell assets rather than make new investments as it reported a 1.46% rise in net asset value for the three months to June 30. The U.S. private equity firm, which listed on Euronext Amsterdam three years ago, stopped investing in new assets last April as its shares continued to trade at a significant discount to the value of its portfolio. Instead, Conversus instigated a realization strategy, selling off the assets in its mature portfolio and using the cash to pay down debt prior to paying out cash to shareholders. "We told our shareholders that until the shares start trading rationally, we won't buy any new assets and focus on selling our companies and getting distributions," Chief Financial Officer Tim Smith told Dow Jones Newswires. Conversus said it collected distributions in the second quarter of $129 million, a level not seen since 2007, and brought its aggregate distributions since the IPO to over $1 billion, compared with an opening portfolio of $1.8 billion when it listed. "We haven't set out parameters--but a 40% discount [share price to NAV], which is where we are at the moment, isn't rational," he said. Conversus isn't unusual among its listed private equity peers, the majority of which trade at a discount to underlying asset value. This is because the listed private equity sector is still an acquired taste, and the lack of activity and dismal performance of the wider sector over the past few years has done nothing to reverse the fact that there are simply more sellers than buyers of listed shares. In order to boost sagging share prices, several companies have launched share buyback programs over the past few years to boost sagging share prices, including Electra Private Equity PLC (ELTA.LN) and Candover Investments PLC (CDI.LN) Smith said that Conversus would likely do this before it started distributing cash to shareholders as it continued with its realization strategy. Monday it said that net NAV was $1.75 billion as at June 30, compared with $1.72 billion at March 31. Net gains on sales were $34.5 million and gains on unrealized assets stood at $12.9 million. At 1315 GMT shares, were up 2.36%, or $0.35 at $15.18. This compares with a 0.94% rise in the broader European financial sector index. -By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9241; marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 26, 2010 11:35 ET (15:35 GMT)