8 Feb 2013 15:17
8 February 2013
Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Limited
Unaudited Interim Management Statement - three months to 31 December 2012
To the shareholders of Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Limited
This interim management statement has been produced solely to provide additional information to shareholders as a body to meet the relevant requirements of the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. It should not be relied upon by any other party or for any other purpose.
This interim management statement relates to the period from 1 October to 31 December 2012, and contains information that covers this period and up to the publication date for this interim management statement, unless otherwise specified.
Overview
Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Limited ("the Company") is a Guernsey closed-ended investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange. The principal investment focus of the Company is to invest in private equity funds.
Investment Objective and Policy
The investment objective of the Company is to generate long-term capital gains, through investment in a diversified portfolio of private equity funds. The Company may also hold direct holdings as an ancillary part of its portfolio, in hedge funds, other speciality funds, unquoted companies and unquoted securities, including fixed-interest securities, cash-equivalent investments and cash.
Material Events
On 27 November 2012, the Company released its unaudited Half Yearly results for the period ended 30 September 2012.
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited was appointed as broker for the Company with effect from 29 November 2012.
The Company currently has 109,131,199 Sterling shares in issue as at today's date.
Portfolio News
The Company's commitments total $256.3million, of which approximately $186.6million has been drawn down. There were twenty-eight capital calls made in the quarter with an aggregate amount of $4.9million. The Company received $10.2million in distributions in the quarter. The Company has received gross distributions, including return of excess capital called, of $96.2million since inception. Twenty-three revaluations were received during the quarter, fourteen of which were upwards revaluations and nine were downwards revaluations. Of the investments, 88% are calculated using currently available 30-Sept valuations, while the remaining 12% of investments are calculated using the last available valuations which are dated between 30-Sept and 31-Dec.
It is expected that Q4 valuations will start to come in from the middle of February. As such, 88% of the portfolio's private equity valuations are still based on 30-Sept figures. The marginal decline in the NAV in Dollar terms was as a result of calls on the Company to pay the fees of the underlying managers it invests in. A weakening of the Dollar against Sterling in December caused the NAV to decrease more materially in Sterling terms.
December was an eventful month, driven by the drama surrounding the US "fiscal cliff" negotiations which ended in a last minute deal that delayed automatic spending cuts and will result in $600bn more tax revenue over the next ten years.
As a result, there was a lot of corporate uncertainty in December, but despite this, the Company still received $5.3million of distributions. This included another distribution of $1.7million from Oaktree and also $1.3million from Thoma Bravo, who recalled and reinvested some of these proceeds into a new investment, Deltek, a US provider of enterprise software and information solutions for government contractors and professional services.
Goldman Sachs continued to monetise its portfolio, resulting in a $0.9million distribution in December. This came about as a result of various secondary offerings within the Fund's listed holdings, as well as a series of recapitalisations; an increasingly common theme in the portfolio, with Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo also following this route.
The other successful exit which resulted in a pay-out to the fund in December was the sale of Common Resources II by Pine Brook. This is a new North American shale gas company set-up by the management company of Common Resources I (following its sale), and the short holding period resulted in an IRR in excess of 50%.
Another event that took place in December was the acquisition by Nielsen, a global marketing analytics company held by Thomas H. Lee and a top 20 underlying holding, of Arbitron in an all cash transaction. The deal will give Nielsen access to a large source of data on US radio listeners helping the firm to cover a more comprehensive range of media consumption avenues.
With a total commitment cover of 59.5%, the Manager continues to look for new investment opportunities.
Portfolio Holdings as at 31 December 2012
% | |
Tenaya Capital V LP | 6.6 |
Thomas H Lee Parallel Fund VI LP | 6.4 |
Greenpark International Investors III LP | 5.9 |
Thoma Bravo IX Fund LP | 5.5 |
Silver Lake Partners III LP | 5.1 |
DFJ Athena LP | 5.0 |
Coller International Partners V LP | 5.0 |
Northzone VI LP | 4.9 |
RHO Ventures VI LP | 4.8 |
Longreach Capital Partners Ireland 1, L.P. | 4.3 |
HIG Bayside Debt & LBO Fund II LP | 4.2 |
SVG Strategic Recovery Fund II LP | 4.0 |
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners VI LP | 4.0 |
Pine Brook Capital Partners LP | 3.7 |
MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners III LP | 3.4 |
Lion Capital III LP | 3.3 |
Oaktree OCM Opportunities Fund VIIb LP | 3.1 |
Resonant Music LP | 2.7 |
Gores Capital Partners III LP | 2.2 |
Co-Investments | 0.6 |
Pinebridge Latin America Partners II LP | 0.6 |
Pangaea Two Parallel L.P. | 0.5 |
Tenaya Capital VI LP | 0.2 |
Deephaven Global Multi-Strategy Fund | 0.0 |
Longreach Capital Partners 2 - USD, L.P. | - |
Cash | 14.0 |
Total |
100.0 |
Total Number of Investments |
25 |
Cash: The Company currently invests its cash with counterparties that appear on Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited's approved lending list.
Geographical Allocation as of 31 December 2012
% | |
Global | 39.1 |
North America | 35.1 |
Europe | 14.2 |
Asia & Other | 11.6 |
Total |
100.0 |
General Description of Company's Financial Position as at 31 December 2012
Sterling Share NAV: 102.39 pence
Market Capitalisation: £75.8 million
As described in the Company's prospectus and as has been the case since its launch, the net asset value ("NAV") and the NAV per share are both calculated monthly by the Company's administrator based on the latest published NAV for each underlying fund.
Investments in underlying funds for the month ended 31 December 2012 are valued using the values (whether final or estimated) as advised by their managers, general partners or administrators. The Company therefore relied on valuation and reporting methods used by the managers, general partners or administrators of the underlying funds in deriving the 31 December 2012 NAV and NAV per share. It is possible, from time to time, that if there is good cause to reduce the underlying manager's valuation the Company will do so accordingly.
Benchmark
The Company does not currently have a benchmark. Due to the nature of the Company's investments, there are no meaningful indices against which to compare the performance of the Company.
Performance (%) (GBP)
Cumulative Performance
| ||||||||
As at 31/12/2012 | 1 month | 3 months | 6 months | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | ||
Share Price | 69.5p | 2.2 | 6.1 | 21.9 | 37.1 | 37.7 | (22.6) | |
NAV | 102.4p | (0.9) | (0.5) | (1.0) | 5.6 | 26.7 | 5.0 | |
Discrete Performance
| ||||||||
Year Ended: | 31/12/12 | 31/12/11 | 31/12/10 | 31/12/09 | 31/12/08 | |||
Share Price | 37.1 | (25.4) | 34.6 | 18.9 | (52.7) | |||
NAV | 5.6 | 11.2 | 7.9 | (17.5) | 0.4 | |||
Total Return; NAV to NAV, Net Income Reinvested, GBP.
Source: Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited and Morningstar.
NAV returns based on NAVs excluding income and with debt-valued at par.
On 19 November 2009 the management of the Company was assumed by Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited.
The Board is not aware of any other significant events or transactions which have occurred between 1 January 2013 and the publication date of this interim management statement which would have a material impact on the financial position of the Company.
For latest performance information, please refer to the Company's factsheet at:
http://www.aberdeenprivateequity.co.uk/doc.nsf/Lit/FactsheetUKClosedAberdeenPrivateEquityFund*
* Neither the content of the Company's website nor the content of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is (or is deemed to be) incorporated into, or forms (or is deemed to form) part of this announcement.
Please note that past performance is not necessarily a guide to the future and that the value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Investors may not get back the amount they originally invested.
For Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Limited
Ipes (Guernsey) Limited
Company Secretary