(Alliance News) - Pantheon International PLC on Thursday reported a moderate increase in its net asset value despite a "challenging" macro-economic backdrop, and promised a more than tenfold potential rise in share buybacks.
The London-based private equity investment trust said its NAV at May 31 was 462.4 pence per share, up 2.4% from 451.6p at the same time last year.
Pantheon however expressed disappointment that its shares continue to trade at a discount to NAV, which widened to 41% at May 31 from 35% the prior year.
Pantheon International shares were up 3.4% at 266.69p in London on Thursday morning.
To remedy this, Pantheon said it will commit up to GBP200 million during the current financial year to buy back its own shares. It repurchased 7.6 million shares for GBP19.7 million in total during the year ended May 31.
Pantheon also intends to extend its capital allocation policy, with effect from the next financial year, to dedicate a proportion of its net portfolio cash flow to further buybacks.
Chair John Singer said the planned buybacks "will capture the exceptional value offered by the company's high quality portfolio," and that investors "will also benefit from our intention to dedicate a proportion of future net cash flow to share buybacks while still making new investments with many of the best [private equity] managers in the world".
Overall, during financial 2023 Pantheon said it committed GBP441 million to 25 new investments, down from GBP491 million the previous year.
Singer said the current environment is "challenging" for equity markets and the world economy, and that "As a result, market sentiment is nervous and tending towards risk-off rather than the reverse."
However, he added: "Past experience of the [private equity] industry has shown that challenging economic times tend to coincide with the years when the capital invested goes on to show the strongest performance," and reminded shareholders that private equity has historically produced "market-beating returns" in the long run.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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Pantheon International (PIN)