APEF.L Regulatory News (APEF)

ABERDEEN PRIVATE EQUITY FUND LIMITED

AUDITED ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT ANNOUNCEMENT

for the year ended 31 March 2015

STRATEGIC REPORT - COMPANY SUMMARY AND FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

The Company

Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Limited (the "Company") is a closed-ended investment company registered in Guernsey and its Ordinary Shares ("Shares") are listed on the premium segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and traded on the London Stock Exchange. The Company was incorporated on 5 January 2007 in Guernsey, Channel Islands with registered number 46192. Trading in the Company's Shares commenced on 9 July 2007.

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Company is to generate long-term capital gains.

Investment Policy

The Company aims to achieve its objective through investment in a diversified portfolio of private equity investments.

Company Benchmark

The Company invests with the aim of maximising absolute returns and does not have a benchmark.

Manager

The Investment Manager of the Company is Aberdeen SVG Private Equity Managers Limited ("ASVG") a wholly owned subsidiary of Aberdeen Asset Management PLC ("AAM")

Website

Up-to-date information can be found on the Company's website - www.aberdeenprivateequity.co.uk

Financial Highlights

STRATEGIC REPORT - OVERVIEW OF STRATEGY

Introduction

The business of the Company is that of a closed-ended investment company registered in Guernsey and the Directors do not envisage any change in this activity in the foreseeable future.

The Company's Financial Highlights are shown below. A review of the Company's activities is given in the Chairman's Statement and the Manager's Review. This includes a review of the business of the Company and its principal activities, likely future developments of the business and the recommended dividend.

Strategy and Business Model

The Company aims to attract long-term private and institutional investors wanting to benefit from the growth prospects from a diversified portfolio of private equity investments.

Duration

The Articles of Incorporation require the Company to propose a continuation vote at every third Annual General Meeting. The next continuation resolution, proposing that the Company continue its business as a closed-ended investment company, will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting to be held in 2016.

Investment Policy and Approach

The investment objective of the Company, as adopted by shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting and Class Meeting held on 3 June 2010, is to generate long-term capital gains and on the same date shareholders approved a new investment policy under which the Company seeks to achieve its objective through investment in a diversified portfolio of private equity investments.

The Company may also hold direct holdings, as an ancillary part of its portfolio, in hedge funds, other specialty funds, unquoted companies and unquoted securities, including fixed interest securities, cash-equivalent investments and cash.

The Company will not invest more than 10 per cent., in aggregate, of the value of its gross assets in other investment trusts or investment companies admitted to the Official List, provided that this restriction does not apply to investments in any such investment trusts or investment companies which themselves have stated investment policies to invest no more than 15 per cent. of their gross assets in other investment trusts or investment companies admitted to the Official List. In any event, the Company will not invest more than 15 per cent. of its gross assets in other investment trusts or investment companies admitted to the Official List.

Investment Process and Investment Opportunities

The Manager's key objective is to select private equity managers which it believes will produce, over time, superior risk-adjusted returns in their chosen investment strategy and which can demonstrate significant competitive advantages compared with other funds in their peer group. The focus is on the individual merits of investments, but the industry and economic environment in which that manager is operating is also taken into consideration.

The investment process is systematic and disciplined. Due diligence is at its heart and typically around three to four months are spent analysing a potential manager, a process which includes a number of on-site visits with that manager. The process culminates in the provision of a detailed report that is then presented to, and discussed by, the Manager's Investment Committee (the "Investment Committee"), where a selection decision is made on all potential funds. The Investment Committee has to approve an investment before it can be recommended to the Company's Board for approval. The Manager will also conduct operational and legal due diligence on the potential manager and proposed investment.

On-going monitoring is similarly robust, and includes regular reviews of market conditions and their potential effect on the underlying funds and any direct private equity investment. In response to the conclusions drawn from this process, the Investment Committee recommends to the Company's Board whether or not to retain an investment.

Asset Allocation

The Company seeks to hold a broadly diversified portfolio of investments by industry sector, investment stage and size of investment, as well as by strategy. The Company intends to invest the majority of its portfolio in the buyout, growth capital, distressed and venture capital funds sectors.

Risk Diversification

The Manager actively monitors the Company's portfolio and attempts to mitigate risk through diversification. Not more than 20% of the Net Asset Value, at the time of investment, is permitted to be invested in any single investment. If the Company acquires a portfolio of investments in a single transaction, this limitation will be applied individually to each of the underlying investments acquired and not to the portfolio as a whole.

Gearing

On 4 August 2014 the Company entered into a new secured £15 million three year committed revolving credit facility, with Lloyds Bank Plc ("Lloyds") which replaced an expiring facility provided by The Royal Bank of Scotland plc ("RBS"). The credit facility is available for general corporate and working capital purposes including bridging capital contribution commitments in accordance with the investment policy. The Company's formal policy with respect to gearing is to ensure that its aggregate borrowings do not exceed a maximum of 25% of Net Asset Value. During the year to 31 March 2015 and up to the date of this report, the Company has not made any drawings under the Lloyds facility (and did not make any drawings under the expired RBS facility).

Risk

An investment in the Shares is only suitable for investors capable of evaluating the risks (including the potential risk of capital loss) and merits of such investment and who have sufficient resources to bear any loss which may result from such investment. Furthermore, an investment in the Shares should constitute part of a diversified investment portfolio. The risks described below are the principal risks which are considered by the Directors to be material to shareholders and potential investors in the Company. Greater detail on these risks is provided in note 19 to the financial statements.

Principal Risk Factors

Shares

The market price and the realisable value of the Company's Shares, as well as being affected by their underlying net asset value, also reflect supply and demand for the Company's Shares, market conditions and general investor sentiment. As a result, the market value and the realisable value of the Shares may fluctuate and vary considerably from the net asset value of the Shares and investors may not be able to realise the value of their original investment.

Borrowings

The Company may borrow up to 25% of the NAV of the Company. Whilst the use of borrowings should enhance the total return on the Shares where the return on the Company's underlying assets is positive and exceeds the cost of borrowing, it will have the opposite effect where the underlying return is less than the cost of borrowing, further reducing the total return on the Shares or increasing the scale of any losses.

Market Risks

The fair value or future cash flows of a financial instrument held by the Company may fluctuate because of changes in market prices. Market risk comprises three elements: interest rate risk, currency risk and other price risk. Further details of these risks are disclosed in note 19 to the financial statements. Investment in private equity securities involves a greater degree of risk than that usually associated with investment in listed securities markets.

General

Shareholders have no right to redeem their Shares and in normal circumstances will only be able to realise their investment through the market. The Articles of Incorporation require the Company to propose a continuation vote at every third Annual General Meeting. The next continuation resolution, proposing that the Company continue its business as a closed-ended investment company, will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting to be held in 2016. If the continuation resolution is not passed, the Directors shall put proposals to shareholders for the restructuring or reorganisation of the Company.

Taxation and Exchange Controls

Any change in the Company's tax status or in taxation legislation and/or the imposition of exchange controls (including the tax treatment of dividends or other investment income received by the Company) could affect the value of the investments held by the Company, affect the Company's ability to provide returns to shareholders or alter the post-tax returns to shareholders.

Investment Strategy and Performance

Inappropriate long-term investment strategies in terms of, inter alia, asset allocation, level of gearing or manager selection may result in underperformance of the Company against the companies within the peer group. The Board regularly considers the Company's investment strategy and monitors performance at each Board meeting.

Portfolio Risks

Private equity investments are long-term in nature and they may take a considerable period to be realised. A substantial proportion of the Company's assets are invested in limited partnerships which invest in private companies. These unquoted investments are less readily realisable than quoted securities. Such investments may therefore carry a higher degree of risk than quoted securities. In valuing its investments in private equity funds, co-investments or limited partnerships and in calculating its NAV, the Company relies to a significant extent on the accuracy of financial and other information provided by these funds to the Manager. Limited partnerships typically provide updated (unaudited) valuations on a quarterly or six-monthly basis. Further details on the valuation methodology are disclosed in note 2 to the financial statements.

Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive

The transition period for those funds and managers subject to the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (the "Directive") came to an end on 22 July 2014. To ensure compliance with the Directive, during the year the Company entered into a new management agreement with Aberdeen SVG Private Equity Managers Limited. Fees payable under the new agreement are the same as were payable under the previous agreement. In addition, the Company has appointed Ipes Depositary (UK) Limited as its depositary, in accordance with the Directive. Further detail on the changes in the Company's management arrangements is provided in the Annual Report.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

At each Board meeting, the Directors consider a number of performance measures to assess the Company's success in achieving its objectives. Below are the main KPIs which have been identified by the Board for determining the progress of the Company:

Net Asset Value and NAV Total Return

Share Price and Share Price Total Return

Discount of Share Price to NAV

Ongoing Charges

A record of these measures is provided under Financial Highlights below.

Board Diversity

The Board recognises the importance of having a range of skilled, experienced individuals with the right knowledge in order to enable the Board to fulfill its obligations. At 31 March 2015, there were four male Directors. The Company has no employees. The Board's statement on diversity is set out in the Annual Report.

Environmental, Social and Human Rights Issues

The Company has no employees as all its executive functions are undertaken by the Manager and other service providers. There are therefore no disclosures to be made in respect of employees. The Company's socially responsible investment policy is outlined in the Annual Report.

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The Company has no greenhouse gas emissions to report from the operations of its business, nor does it have responsibility for any other emissions producing sources.

Howard Myles

Chairman

30 June 2015

STRATEGIC REPORT - CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

I am pleased to present to shareholders the Annual Report and financial statements of the Company for the financial year ended 31 March 2015.

Performance and Dividend

During the period under review the Net Asset Value ("NAV") per Share rose by 16.1% to 127.4p. Inclusive of the 2.0p dividend paid in September 2014, shareholders received a NAV total return of 18.2% for the period under review.

For the year under review the Company benefited from the strong performance of its investment portfolio, much of which is US Dollar denominated. Additional performance came from net translational gains from currency following a strengthening in the US Dollar versus Sterling over the period.

On 31 March 2015 the share price discount to NAV stood at 30.8%. Since the period end the NAV has decreased to 123.1p per Share (based upon 29 May 2015 figures being the latest available information) and the discount has narrowed to 26.9% based on the Share price at that date.

Owing to differences in the nature and timing of commitments to underlying investments the Company does not have a benchmark with which to compare performance. The Board however regularly reviews the NAV performance both in absolute and relative terms against the Company's peer group.

In 2012 the Board implemented a distribution policy whereby the Company will return a proportion of the net distributions that it receives from its investments by way of a dividend to shareholders. The Board stated then that it intended to distribute approximately 10% of the received distributions (net of recallable distributions) each year, subject to a minimum of at least 1p per Share per annum regardless of the distributions received. Accordingly, we are pleased to be able to recommend to shareholders the payment of a dividend of 2.2p (2014 - 2.0p) per Share which, subject to approval of shareholders at the AGM on 15 September 2015, will be payable on 18 September 2015 to Shareholders on the register on 21 August 2015.

Amendment to Performance Fee

We are pleased to have agreed certain favourable amendments to the way that performance fees are calculated which are highlighted below. Applicable for the year ending 31 March 2016, the performance fee will incorporate a three year 8% per annum compound return hurdle rate. In order to earn a performance fee all of the following criteria must be met in a performance fee year:

The NAV must have risen by more than 8% in the performance fee year

The NAV must exceed the high watermark (at which a fee was last paid)

The NAV must have risen by more than 8% pa compound over the previous three performance fee years

The performance fee itself will now be calculated at 10% of the NAV gain above the hurdle rate in the latest performance fee year, rather than at 10% of the entire NAV gain. Furthermore the total fees payable to the Manager in any performance period will be capped at 3% (previously 4.99%).

This new Performance Fee takes effect for the year ending 31 March 2016. For the year ended 31 March 2015 the performance fee has been calculated at the rate of 10% of the NAV gain above the current 8% hurdle rate, rather than 10% of the entire NAV gain from when a performance fee was last paid which had been applicable in previous years.

Share Capital Management

During the period under review no Shares were purchased in the market. The Board will continue to monitor the level of discount to NAV at which the shares trade, both in absolute terms and against the discounts of comparable companies. Accordingly, the Board is seeking to renew the shareholder authority to buy back up to 14.99% of the Company's Share capital at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Gearing

As we confirmed last year in the Company's Half Yearly Report, the Company agreed a £15m revolving credit facility with Lloyds. The facility is available for the purposes of bridging capital contribution commitments in accordance with the Company's investment policy and will provide the Company with increased financial flexibility if required in the future.

Continuation Vote

At the Annual General Meeting on 25 September 2013 the resolution for the continuation of the Company was passed. The next continuation vote will be in September 2016.

Portfolio

The Board is pleased to note the positive NAV performance, and that performance has been uniformly distributed across a wide range of Limited Partner ("LP") vintages, ranging from 2007 to 2012. Thoma Bravo IX Fund has again been the Company's best performing investment over the year, its gains having been driven by both the strong exit market (with their Tripwire sale to Belden Inc) and uplifts from operational improvements that the general partner ("GP") was able to implement in portfolio companies.

The Board is particularly pleased to note the important contributions from more recent investments including Northzone VI (2010), Lion Capital III (2010), Apax 8 (2012) and the co-investment in Dell (2012).

I discussed Northzone VI's performance in the Half Yearly Report last year, that fund having then seen a material uplift in its underlying Russian classified advertising business, Avito. Post the publication of the Half Yearly Report, Avito saw a significant reduction in translated value in the year end valuation of Northzone VI owing to pronounced Russian Rouble weakness[1]. I am pleased to note following the publication of Northzone's Q1 2015 report that the recent strengthening of the Rouble has been reflected in a write back of Avito's Rouble losses. Avito appears to be continuing to grow, though we do not rule out further volatility in the valuation of this investment which remains Aberdeen Private Equity Fund's largest underlying holding on a look through basis.

The Manager has been active during the year, adding four new funds (CCMP Capital Investors III, The Resolute Fund III, FFL IV and Exponent III) and one co-investment (The Hillman Group, alongside CCMP III). The Manager also disposed of two non-core positions (DFJ Athena and PineBridge Latin America Partners II).

Outlook

Demand for private equity owned assets continues to be strong from public market investors, trade buyers and in many cases from private equity itself (via secondary transactions). In the absence of a major geopolitical or economic global shock, it is likely that good returns from private equity investment strategies will continue for the immediately foreseeable future. Nonetheless, with purchase multiples for new private equity buyouts having hit the highs of 2007[2] at 9.7x trailing earnings, it has become ever harder for managers to source and transact on compelling and differentiated investment plans. Looking further out, and arguably within the investment life of some of our more recent commitments, it is the Board and your Manager's view that we could see a return to more straitened times for private equity. Any constraint on the current relatively easy availability of debt for leveraged buyout deals, combined with these higher purchase costs could well act as a brake to the outsized returns we have seen more recently.

As I concluded in last year's Half Yearly Report, with much of the portfolio allocated to mid-market buyout many of the Company's underlying investments have a strong operational improvement potential, which can help deliver returns beyond simple financial engineering or earnings multiple increases. Further, private equity GPs are, on the whole, being more discerning in investing in companies with greater resilience of cash flows which should provide some support to the portfolio should we see any renewed global weakness.

Board of Directors/Apprenticeship

As indicated in last year's Annual Report, Jonathan Carr retired from the Board as Chairman and a Director at the conclusion of the AGM in September 2014. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the Board's thanks for his extensive contribution to the Company.

The Board is committed to improving the opportunities for people from a diverse range of backgrounds to understand and prepare for membership of corporate boards. During the period under review we agreed to appoint an apprentice from Board Apprentice Limited, which is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to increasing diversity on boards by widening the pool of board-ready candidates. For a period of one year from 1 May 2015, we have appointed Katie Hutchins as a Board apprentice, and in that capacity Katie will attend all Board and Committee meetings as an observer for educational purposes and can take part in discussions if invited to do so by the Board. Katie receives no expenses or remuneration from the Company.

Howard Myles

Chairman

30 June 2015

STRATEGIC REPORT - MANAGER'S REVIEW

At the end of March 2015, 81.2% of the Company's portfolio was invested in 26 private equity funds and 3.9% in four co-investments alongside existing GPs.

Performance Commentary

The 26 private equity funds in the Company's portfolio invest across a wide range of sectors, geographies and market capitalisations, providing exposure in aggregate to 335 underlying companies[3].

In local currency terms, the portfolio generated a positive total return of 14.6%[4] for the period under review. This reflects strong performance from a wide range of our holdings. Key drivers for this have included maturing portfolios (and consequent valuation uplifts due to the effect of operational improvement and/or uplifts in comparative valuation multiples), positive sentiment in quoted equity markets and a supportive M&A environment.

Movement of the Company's investment portfolio from the opening value to the closing value in US Dollar terms[5]:

FMV 31 March 2014 $163.5m

New Investments +$31.5m

Distributions -$39.3m

Investment Performance +$28.9m

FX -$9.5m

FMV 31 March 2015 $175.1m

The portfolio's investment performance has been helped by a broad spread of investments, with more recent vintage funds contributing in similar measure to the Company's legacy investments. Thoma Bravo Fund IX, Lion Capital Fund III and Northzone VI, respectively 2008, 2010 and 2010 vintage investments, accounted for 45.0% of the total portfolio performance for the year. As per the previous financial year, the Company's investment in Thoma Bravo Fund IX proved to be our best performing investment.

As we remarked in the 2014 Half Yearly Report, we have seen encouraging results from the Company's co-investment portfolio, and our investment in Dell is now marked substantially above cost, and for the year under review, was our 8th best performing investment in Dollar terms.

Largest Performance by Fund[6]

Thoma Bravo Fund IX, a US growth and buyout fund, performed well due to on-going good performance in all bar one of their remaining portfolio companies. However it was the sale of Tripwire (a provider of automated compliance and security management solutions) to Belden Inc, for more than 5x its purchase cost, which has been the major contributor to this fund's performance. Thoma Bravo was able to drive rapid operational improvements which also contributed to the success of the Tripwire investment.

Lion Capital III, a consumer focused buyout fund saw valuation improvements over the period from its investments in French frozen food retailer Picard which has enjoyed continuing momentum in EBITDA. Picard has also been partially sold, and had a dividend recapitalisation. The manager also continues to see strong progress with fashion retailers AllSaints and John Varvatos. During the year Lion Capital III also executed a debt refinancing for its Alain Afflelou optical retailing business. Whilst Alain Afflelou continues to be impacted by the weakness in the French economy, it has seen a strong rebound in sales from its Spanish store base.

The valuation uplift seen in Thomas H Lee Parallel Fund VI was partly the result of an increase in the valuation of Acosta, a US supermarket sales and marketing agency, owing to its pending sale to the Carlyle Group, and an increase in the valuation of Comdata as a result of its pending merger with FleetCor Technologies. During the year the GP also sold a number of holdings including Nielsen Holdings and Moneygram International.

Silver Lake Partners III's performance is attributable to the significant uplift in the valuation of its holding in Alibaba which went public in the US in early September 2014 at a premium to held value (though performance post November last year of the quoted stock has been weak). Dell, in which the Company also has a direct co-investment, was also a strong contributor, with its valuation being marked up due to strong operating performance and market share gains. Dell's valuation has also been helped by competitors' valuation multiple uplifts. Electronic market maker, Virtu, also improved following a partial sale to Temasek in 2014.

The performance of Northzone VI has again been strong, though this masks some intra-year volatility in connection with Avito. As we reported in the Half Yearly Report for the six months ended 30 September 2014, this business (a Russian online classified advertising business) has seen exceptionally strong growth in page views and revenues, such that its investment performance took it to being the largest holding in this fund. The subsequent Russian Rouble crisis that developed in the latter part of 2014 significantly impacted the end-2014 valuation for Northzone VI; however, the recovery the Rouble experienced over Q1 2015 saw much of that earlier translational loss being recovered[7]. Other notable progress in this fund came from Trustpilot, a web based consumer review platform, which increased in value following a new financing round at a higher implied valuation.

Portfolio Activity

The Company was particularly active during the year making a number of new primary commitments and also secondary disposals into the private equity secondary market.

Commitments were made to CCMP Capital Investors III (July 2014, $15m), The Resolute Fund III (June 2014, $15m), FFL Parallel Fund IV (February 2015, $10m) and Exponent III (March 2015, £10m). These new commitments are discussed in the Calls for New Investment section below. We also made a $1.5m co-investment into The Hillman Group, a supplier of fasteners and fixings to the US home improvement industry, alongside CCMP Capital Investors III.

We sold the Company's investment in DFJ Athena L.P (a 2007 vintage investment) for $2.22m in September 2014 to a secondary purchaser, which was executed at a small uplift to held value. We had previously written DFJ Athena down by 80% in September 2013 following increased concern over the outlook for the underlying portfolio companies. DFJ Athena is a specialist South Korean technology venture capital fund. We also took the opportunity to dispose of PineBridge Latin America Partners II (a 2007 vintage investment) for $0.07m at a small discount to held value. The PineBridge fund was no longer a core holding having had a difficult start (a key man clause had been triggered some years ago) and a series of compromised underlying investments.

Calls for new investments

The Company paid calls of $31.5m over the year (2014: $19m)[8] funding 45 new underlying investments and a number of follow-on investments.

The Company committed to CCMP Capital Investors III in July 2014. CCMP is a US and London based private equity business focusing on predominantly US mid-market buyout transactions. The fund called $6.4m during the period to fund purchases of interests in The Hillman Group, Solvay Eco Services, a US based chemical manufacturer and the leader in sulphuric acid production; and, PQ Holdings, another specialty chemical manufacturer.

Lion Capital III called $3.9m over the period to fund new investments in Alex & Ani, Perricone MD, PittaRosso and follow on investments into ghd and John Varvatos. Alex & Ani is a niche US jewellery brand, Perricone MD is the eponymously named skin care business set up by Dr Nicholas Perricone, and PittaRosso is an Italian shoe retailer. John Varvatos is a now global men's designer clothing brand and ghd is a UK based hair products manufacturing business, well known for their high quality heated hair straightening tools.

The Company committed to The Resolute Fund III in June 2014. This fund is managed by The Jordan Company, who typically make investments in US mid-market businesses with enterprise values between $100m and $2bn. Calls totalling $3.6m were made over the period for their investments into Capstone Logistics, Transilwrap, RFJ Autos and American Freight of Ohio. Capstone Logistics is a leading US logistic consultancy business, Transilwrap is a US leader in the plastic film industry, RFJ autos is a company set up to buy (and build up into a larger concern) US automotive dealerships, and American Freight is an eastern-US discount furniture business.

Gores Capital Partners III called $2.6m over the period to fund new investments into Tweddle Group and Hovis. Tweddle is a provider of service and instruction manuals for cars to automotive OEMs[9]. Hovis is a carve-out from, and joint venture with, Premier Foods and encompasses core businesses in bread and milling (they are the third largest bread bakery in the UK). Gores also called capital for a part funding of two-bolt on acquisitions for the German automotive component manufacturer The Hay Group. The GP also had to call capital from their LPs to fund a loan guarantee made to Mexx, a retail fashion business, which was pushed into bankruptcy during the year.

The Company committed to Exponent III in March 2015. Exponent is a UK focussed upper mid-market buyout manager, investing in deals with an Enterprise Value of £75m to £300m. Exponent made their first investment shortly afterwards, a buyout of Big Bus Tours. Big Bus Tours are an industry leader in city bus tours and operate in a number of cities around the world.

Distributions

The Company received cash distributions[10] of $39.2m during the period under review (2014: $36.7m).

Five Largest Aggregate Fund Distributions (excluding sold investments)

Thomas H Lee Parallel Fund VI distributed most of the proceeds following its exit of Acosta, a US supermarket sales and marketing company and on-going sales of their now quoted holding in Neilson, the global information and measurement Company. The figure also includes payments from West Corporation, Umpqua, 1-800 CONTACTS, and share sales of Aramark and Neilson. The Company also received an in specie transfer of shares in GrubHub Inc, which were subsequently disposed of at a small loss relative to the price on the date at which they were transferred, though at a profit to the IPO price, the IPO having occurred whilst still in the Thomas H Lee Fund.

Thoma Bravo Fund IX's distributions came from the sale Tripwire Inc, an automated compliance and security management solutions business, to Belden Inc. Also included in the figure for the year was a dividend (and redemption of preference stock) from Flexera, a business that had been part disposed of previously to Ontario based teachers' Private Capital in 2011. The figure also includes escrow releases from the previous sales of fund investments including Entrust, Roadnet and Manatron.

The Coller International Partners V distribution comprised realisations from a variety of different underlying fund investments. It also included cash flow stemming from public market activity including the Polypipe IPO (formerly held in Coller's Cavendish Square Partners investment), SVG Capital's tender offer during the period and the realisation of remaining shares in Deutsche Annington. Coller also saw realisations from Zeitecs B.V and A-Power GmbH from within the Shell Technology Ventures Fund 1 portfolio and from Forbion (ABN Life Sciences) following the sales of shares in the underlying portfolio company, Bluebird Bio.

Tenaya Capital V sold their holding in VideoIQ for below cost and also distributed proceeds from their IPO sale of Qunar shares. Qunar is a leading Chinese travel search and booking website and this sale brought the fund's distributed to paid in ("DPI") ratio to 0.99, thus effectively taking the investment to the point where it has distributed back all of its original commitment.

The distributions from Silver Lake Partners III relate to the final sale of their holding in US listed company Groupon and part of their stake in Alibaba, which went public in the US in early September. It also includes distributions relating to the sale of Mercury Payment Systems (sold in June to Vantiv Inc, a US payment processing services provider) and the exit of Gerson Lehrman Group ("GLG"). Silver Lake were also able to benefit from an escrow release related to the August 2013 sale of SMART storage systems to SanDisk.

Market News and Private Equity Environment

A broad global economic recovery continued over the Company's financial year, with equity markets around the world having risen strongly and with several reaching record highs by the end of March[11]. However, this recovery continues to remain vulnerable owing to on-going deflationary risks and concerns around Greece, the Eurozone, geopolitical tensions and cooling growth across Asia, particularly in China.

The recovery has been strongest in the US where real GDP grew 2.4% in 2014, up from 2.2% in 2013, driven by a number of factors, such as the increase in consumer spending, improving business sentiment, stronger job creation and falling oil prices[12]. In October 2014, the US Federal Reserve ended its quantitative easing ("QE") program in a decision that was underpinned by the economy's continued recovery and a consensus view that (although frequently changing) US interest rates are likely to remain low for some time. The falling oil price, which was one of the major impacts on financial markets this year, and gains in employment should mean that consumer spending continues for the time being, helping the US not to succumb to a global trend of weaker growth. This resulted in the IMF revising its prediction for the country's growth from 3.1% to 3.6% for 2015.[13]

Whilst this is encouraging, particularly for a Company with a long standing bias to US investments, we recognise that risks to the US economy remain. Although there has been a small rally in the oil price post the year end, any further setbacks could have significant ramifications for oil related capital expenditure. A further area of concern is the US Dollar which remains strong and will undoubtedly hamper some exports, particularly for manufacturing, an area that has enjoyed a nascent recovery over the last few years, in many cases driven by the phenomena of 'onshoring'[14].

Europe's recovery has continued, though at a slower pace, with most recent GDP growth data (for Q4 2014) up 0.3% over the prior quarter, which turned out to be greater than expected[15]. However this has not been a broad based recovery and has been again led by Germany. The peripheral European countries have made limited advances as they contend with heavy debt burdens, structural headwinds and the knock-on effect of Russia's sanctions. The threat of deflation has showed no signs of retreating and we have now seen the European Central Bank become one of the last major central banks to devise a programme of QE. Europe will be dominated this year by on-going fears over a Greek exit from the Euro and noise from the preparations for a UK referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union, which needs to take place by 2017. The UK outlook remains strong and headline GDP is expected to continue with its positive progress. As such the UK remains the strongest of the large European economies[16] and with the May 2015 General Election returning a majority Conservative government, there are likely to be positive implications for business confidence and investment.

In Asia, recent news flow has been dominated by growth expectations for the Chinese economy, the country having grown in Q1 2015 by 7.0%, substantially down on growth rates shown in the recent past. Whilst the Chinese Government has described this slowing growth rate as the "new normal"[17], industrial overcapacity, rising debt levels and a property slump are likely to continue to inhibit exceptional levels of growth for some time. Whilst there are multiple growth and reform initiatives underway within the country, and the Chinese Communist Party have made it clear that state-owned enterprises will face increased pressure to raise their productivity, and more competition will be introduced in state-dominated sectors such as banking[18], there is no immediate panacea for the decline in Chinese growth rates.

Turning to the private equity environment, 2014 was a record year for realisations with a total of 1,719 private equity-backed exits globally. These were worth an aggregate value of US$443 billion, up 29% (by value) on 2013 and the highest value ever recorded[19]. North America accounted for the majority of these exits, closely followed by Europe and then Asia. As has been the trend historically, trade sales accounted for the majority of exits, representing approximately 50% of the total in 2014, followed by secondary sales at 30%. The window remained open for private equity backed IPOs in 2014 as evidenced by the 293 listings (17% of total private equity backed exits, broadly flat with 2013) and the high-profile, record breaking US listing of Alibaba in September (an underlying Company holding, via the investment in Silver Lake Partners III). One of the key questions for 2015 is whether this level of exit activity is sustainable in light of concerns regarding buyers' willingness to pay higher prices for companies and potential turbulence of global markets.

Alibaba's exit was a significant uplift event for the Company and we note that the Company's total look-through exposure to listed companies is approximately 17%[20], and this could rise further if there is a significant increase in IPO levels. However private equity remains a disciplined industry in exiting public investments once mandatory lock-ups are finished and our expectation is that it is the look-through composition of our public equity exposure that could change significantly as GPs move to fund raising mode (and thus need to demonstrate clear exits) and new IPOs take place. We set out the largest five underlying public equity positions below:

Fuelled by this strong exit activity, higher than usual cash distributions back to investors have aided fundraising efforts, with a total of US$495 billion[21] raised globally in 2014, up 15% from 2013, where a total of US$432 billion was raised[22]. The fundraising market has been extremely vibrant with many managers closing funds in record time, on the same core fee basis and above their indicated target size. However, the number of funds raised in 2014 fell by 17% from the prior year indicating that the average size of funds increased quite substantially. Many first time GPs have been unsuccessful in attracting LP commitments, raising only 7% of the total capital raised in 2014, an historic low. With the industry's capital overhang increasing by US$128 billion in 2014 to US$1.2 trillion, concerns exist over how this latest round of fundraisings might push up deal prices and impact returns.

Levels of deal activity have also been supportive to the overall market, with global buyout activity up 8% from 2013, and deal value increasing 13% over the same period, with activity driven by larger transactions. Deal pricing continued to trend upwards in 2014[23], due to increasing levels of competition for assets arising from a combination of the industry's high levels of dry powder, much of which is approaching the end of its investment period, and increased competition from strategic buyers who have become key competitors for private equity assets. Indeed, strong origination skills at GP firms will be of paramount importance for sourcing new deals. Going forward, it is likely that GPs will continue to face tough competition for acquisitions, and given the levels of debt available will also mean that they need to be disciplined and capable of walking away from certain transactions.

The coming financial year should be another busy one for private equity activity, especially in the US where economic recovery has been strongest and there is an active M&A market and large volumes of capital to be invested.

Portfolio Strategy and Outlook

As we comment above, Private Equity as an asset class has had a strong year, with good momentum seen in fundraising, exits and value accretion within portfolios. What has often been missing from the headlines is the work that is happening behind the scenes to build value, particularly in the area of operational intervention. Much of the uplift in valuation that we are seeing in portfolios is coming from these efforts, though we recognise that increases in comparable valuation multiples are also playing an important role in this value creation story.

Our due diligence on managers is heavily orientated towards those managers, particularly in the buyout space, that have significant operational enhancement capability. The three most recent US funds we have added to the portfolio - CCMP III, Resolute Fund III and FFL IV - all have that, as does Exponent a UK manager (our most recent commitment is Exponent III) whose approach is to identify and put in place an operating chairman at the very start of their involvement. We will continue to prioritise those types of managers, and also those who bring a very specific strength to their overall proposition.

We see it as vital to work with managers that have significant differentiation in their modus operandi - it is this ability to bring something slightly different to the table that will help protect (but never fully insulate) from the inevitable mean reversion that will happen to currently buoyant private equity returns. We don't know when the cycle will end or for how long strong returns will continue but believe it reasonable to assume that the chances of a recently raised primary fund encountering recessionary-like conditions within in its investment life are greater now than they were 12-18 months ago.

We do not see an immediate cessation to the steady rate of exits and returns over and above valuations at which businesses are being held at, or demand for private equity owned businesses from trade buyers which is fuelling exits. At some stage, however, the effect of increasing purchase price multiples could impact on exit multiples and compress eventual returns to investors in this asset class. Consequently our likely focus over the coming year will remain on trying to access managers, geographies and sectors where we perceive there is a greater ability to capture value opportunities. Europe remains attractive on that basis, though we do not rule out further allocations to the US. From a stage perspective we remain fully weighted in Venture and are unlikely to make a new commitment in this area without a meaningful alteration to our existing portfolio.

With regard to the secondary funds market we have seen significant firming in pricing this year. Our approach with regard to secondaries remains opportunistic, and if we see better opportunities being presented via primary funds and co-investment opportunities it is likely we will lean towards those areas. We are, however, mindful of the potential benefits to the portfolio of including secondaries, particularly in terms of bringing forward returns.

The Company's co-investment strategy remains on target and though the programme remains in its early days, initial performance and pace of deployment has been positive. We have now made four co-investments, investing alongside existing funds in the portfolio, across a range of industries and geographies. Dell has been marked up appreciably reflecting good progress on their transformation plan into an enterprise solutions business, and robust PC sales globally. Likewise Via Mechanics, has seen a strong valuation uplift based on financial performance and free cash flow generation. Alain Afflelou remains valued at cost, though is making sound progress in its business plan. The Hillman Group, a fixtures and fasteners distributor, was purchased during the year and is consequently still valued at cost.

Our objective remains to build a larger co-investment portfolio, allowing us to reduce some of the fee drag inherent in a 'fund of funds' strategy, and to increase our weighting to those names where we have a high degree of conviction.

In conclusion, we remain positive on our market and the opportunities that are presenting themselves. We expect the remainder of 2015 and into 2016 to be another active period for the portfolio.

Alexander Barr

Aberdeen SVG Private Equity Managers Limited

30 June 2015

STRATEGIC REPORT - RESULTS

As at 31 March 2015

Financial Highlights

Performance (total returnA)

Dividends

Investment Portfolio - Schedule of Investments

As at 31 March 2015

Private Equity Portfolio

As at 31 March 2015

Principles of Valuation

Investments in private equity funds and co-investments may not have a readily available market and are therefore valued based on the fair value of each private equity fund or co-investment as reported by the respective general partner as per the capital account summary statement, which includes estimates made by those general partners. The Board and Manager believe that this value, in most cases, represents fair value as of the relevant statement date, although, if other factors lead the Board or Manager to conclude that the fair value attributed by the general partner does not match their estimate of actual fair value, the Board and Manager will adjust the value of the investment from the general partner's estimate. The Board and Manager estimate fair value using publicly available information and the most recent financial information provided by the general partners, as adjusted for cash flows since the date of the most recent financial information. 95% of the portfolio has been valued using 31 March 2015 valuations, 3% has been valued using an estimate of value at 31 March 2015 and 2% has been valued using valuations based upon 31 December 2014. For further information please refer to note 11 of the financial statements.

TOP TEN HOLDINGS

As at 31 March 2015

As at 31 March 2014

Extracts from the Directors' Report

The Directors present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2015.

Status

The Company is a Guernsey authorised closed-ended investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Company was incorporated on 5 January 2007 in Guernsey, Channel Islands with registered number 46192. Trading in the Company's Shares commenced on 9 July 2007.

The Company is a member of the Association of Investment Companies ("AIC").

The Company intends to manage its affairs so as to be a qualifying investment for inclusion in the stocks and shares component of an Individual Savings Account ('ISA') and it is the Directors' intention that the Company should continue to be a qualifying investment.

The Company currently conducts its affairs so that its securities can be recommended by IFAs to ordinary retail investors in accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority's rules in relation to non-mainstream investment products and intends to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The Company's securities are excluded from the Financial Conduct Authority's restrictions which apply to non-mainstream pooled investments (NMPIs) because the Company would qualify as an investment trust if the Company were incorporated in the UK.

Strategic Report

A review of the Company's activities is given in the Strategic Report which encompasses the Chairman's Statement and the Manager's Review. This includes a review of the business of the Company and its principal activities, the likely future developments of the business and the major risks associated with the Company. The Key Performance Indicators for the Company including NAV performance and Share price performance are detailed under Strategic Report - Results below.

Results and Dividend

Details of the Company's results are shown under Strategic Report - Results. The Company's policy is to distribute approximately 10% of the received distributions net of recallable distributions each year subject to a minimum of at least 1p per Share per annum. For the year ended 31 March 2015 the Directors are recommending the payment of a dividend of 2.2p per Share which, subject to shareholder approval at the AGM on 15 September 2015, will be payable on 18 September 2015 to shareholders on the register on 21 August 2015.

Share Capital

As at 31 March 2015 there were 109,131,199 Shares in issue. During the year no Shares were issued or purchased in the market for cancellation.

Directors

The current Directors are Messrs H Myles, D Copperwaite, P Hebson and D Staples. Mr Staples will retire by rotation at the Annual General Meeting and, being eligible, will offer himself for re-election. At the Annual General Meeting held on 16 September 2014 Mr Jonathan Carr retired from the Board and did not seek reappointment and Mr Myles was appointed as Chairman of the Board.

The Directors submit themselves for re-election every three years. The Board considers that there is a balance of skills and experience within the Board relevant to the leadership and direction of the Company and that all Directors contribute effectively.

Annual General Meeting

The Company's Annual General Meeting is convened for 10.30 a.m. on 15 September 2015 at the offices of Ipes (Guernsey) Limited, 1 Royal Plaza, Royal Avenue, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 2HL.

Corporate Governance

The Statement of Corporate Governance forms part of this Directors' Report and covers the Company's compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code and is shown in the Annual Report.

Going Concern

The Company's Directors believe that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Note 19 to the financial statements includes the Company's objectives, policies and processes for managing its capital; its financial risk management objectives; details of its financial instruments and its exposure to credit risk and liquidity risk. The Directors have undertaken a rigorous review of the Company's ability to continue as a going concern including reviewing the level of the Company's assets and significant areas of financial risk including the level of liquidity, the estimated draw down of commitments and timing of realisations from the portfolio.

Management Agreement

The Company entered into an investment management agreement dated 19 November 2009 pursuant to which the Manager agreed to provide discretionary investment management services to the Company (the "Agreement").

With effect from June 2013 the Company has been managed by Aberdeen SVG Private Equity Managers Limited ("ASVG"). As of 30 June 2015 ASVG became a wholly owned subsidiary of Aberdeen Asset Management plc ("AAM"), the company having formerly been a Joint Venture 49.9% owned by SVG Capital plc (''SVGC''), a London listed Investment Trust, and 50.1% owned by AAM.

The management agreement for Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Limited will be novated back to Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited during the remainder of the Company's current financial year.

Under the Agreement (as amended and to be novated), the Manager is paid by the Company a monthly fee equal to:

one twelfth of 1.5% of the Net Asset Value ("NAV") of the Company before deduction of any performance fee but after deducting liabilities (excluding from such liabilities the amount of any long-term structured bank debt approved by the Board) and deducting cash at bank, short-term deposits and the value of holdings in money market funds; plus

one twelfth of 0.75% of the value of all cash at bank, short-term deposits and holdings in money market funds (together the "Fee")

The Fee is calculated and accrued as at the last business day of each month and is paid monthly in arrears.

There is a performance fee element to the management agreement and further details of this are outlined below.

The Agreement will continue in force until the Company is wound-up unless and until terminated earlier by either party giving to the other not less than 12 months' written notice. In certain circumstances the Agreement may be terminated forthwith by notice in writing by a party to the other party, including where key persons depart from the Manager or the Manager is no longer authorised to carry on investment business in the United Kingdom.

The Agreement contains indemnities from the Company in favour of the Manager and its associates which are restricted to exclude matters arising by reason of the negligence, wilful default, fraud or breach of the Agreement of or by the Manager or any of its associates. Furthermore, neither the Manager nor any of its associates will be liable to the Company for any loss suffered by the Company in connection with the Agreement, unless the Company has suffered such loss due to the negligence, wilful default, fraud or breach of the Agreement of or by the Manager or any of its associates.

Performance Fee

Under the Management Agreement in force during the year there was also a 10% performance fee payable subject to the achievement of an 8% return on the audited NAV adjusted for Share buybacks and dividend payments to shareholders, with a high water mark. Performance fees (i) are only payable in respect of the audited year end NAV as adjusted; (ii) performance fee payments are not crystallised upon the purchase by the Company of its own shares, in the market, for cancellation; and, (iii) audited NAVs used in performance fee calculations are adjusted to add back the value of any dividends that have been paid during the period to shareholders. The aggregate fees payable by the Company to the Manager pursuant to the Agreement in respect of the financial year ended 31 March 2014 were capped at 4.99 per cent. of the audited, unadjusted Net Asset Value of the Company as at 31 March in the immediately preceding calendar year (as reported in the relevant annual financial statements of the Company).

Amendments to Performance Fee

Applicable for the year ending 31 March 2016, the performance fee element of the management fee has been amended and will incorporate a three year 8% per annum compound return hurdle rate. In order to earn a performance fee all of the following criteria must be met in a performance fee year:

The NAV must have risen by more than 8% in the performance fee year

The NAV must exceed the high watermark (at which a fee was last paid)

The NAV must have risen by more than 8% pa compound over the previous three performance fee years

The performance fee itself will now be calculated at 10% of the NAV gain above the hurdle rate, rather than at 10% of the entire NAV gain. Furthermore the total fees payable to the Manager in any performance period will be capped at 3% (previously 4.99%).

This new Performance Fee takes effect for the year ending 31 March 2016. For the year ended 31 March 2015 the performance fee has been calculated at the rate of 10% of the NAV gain above the current 8% hurdle rate, rather than 10% of the entire NAV gain from when a performance fee was last paid which had been applicable in previous years.

The Directors review the terms of the Agreement on a regular basis and have confirmed that, owing to the investment skills, experience and commitment of the Manager, in their opinion the continuing appointment of Aberdeen SVG, on the terms agreed, is in the interests of shareholders as a whole.

By order of the Board

David Staples

Director

Registered Office:

1 Royal Plaza, Royal Avenue

St Peter Port, Guernsey

GY1 2HL

30 June 2015

STATEMENT OF DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITIES

The Directors are responsible for preparing financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view in accordance with applicable Guernsey law and International Financial Reporting Standards, of the state of affairs of the Company and of the profit or loss of the Company for that year. In preparing the financial statements, the Directors are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;

make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in business; and

assess whether the Annual Report and financial statements, taken as a whole, is 'fair, balanced and understandable'.

The Directors confirm to the best of their knowledge that:

they have complied with the above requirements in preparing the financial statements;

there is no relevant audit information of which the Company's auditors are unaware.

In accordance with Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.1.12:

The Directors confirm to the best of their knowledge that:

the financial statements, prepared in accordance with the applicable set of accounting standards, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company; and

the Directors' Report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the Company, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.

The Directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Each Director confirms that, so far as he is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Company's auditors are unaware, and he has taken all the steps that he ought to have taken as a Director in order to make himself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Company's auditors are aware of that information. Additionally, all important events since the year end are properly disclosed in the financial statements.

The maintenance and integrity of the Company's website is the responsibility of the Directors; the work carried out by the auditors does not involve consideration of the maintenance and integrity of this website and, accordingly, the auditors accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the financial statements since they were initially presented on the website. Legislation in Guernsey governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

For Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Limited

David Staples

Director

30 June 2015

STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

For the year ended 31 March 2015

BALANCE SHEET

As at 31 March 2015

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS:

For the year ended 31 March 2015