Jpel Priv Eqty Regulatory News (JPEL)

29 Sep 2009 09:25



J.P. Morgan Private Equity Limited Announces Final Close on $93.4 mm following an Oversubscribed Offering of US$ Equity Shares 

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GUERNSEY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2009 

J.P. Morgan Private Equity Limited ("JPEL" or the "Company"), a London Stock Exchange listed private equity secondary fund, has held a final closing of its 2009 discounted offering of US$ Equity Shares. The 2009 offering raised over US$93.4 million in total, almost twice the amount of its initial fundraising target of US$50 million. The offering's final close, held on 24 September 2009, was oversubscribed.

"We were delighted to hold an oversubscribed final close for JPEL US$ Equity Shares in such a challenging fundraising environment," said JPEL Chairman Trevor Ash.

The 24 September 2009 close represented the last offering of US$ Equity Shares at a discount to NAV, pursuant to the authority granted at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders  on 16 July 2009. JPEL currently has no intention of publishing a prospectus in order to issue further US$ Equity Shares at a discount to net asset value pursuant to that shareholder authority.

"We believe that the Company's ability to exceed the initial fundraising target is a great indicator of JPEL's capabilities in challenging markets and continues to validate the Company's value-oriented secondary private equity investment approach," commented Greg Getschow, JPEL's co-lead portfolio manager.

"We believe that the current market for secondary private equity investments represents a significant opportunity for JPEL to deploy capital in accretive transactions," added Troy Duncan, JPEL's co-lead portfolio manager. 

JPEL's primary strategy is to acquire secondary market portfolios of direct fund investments, significantly invested partnership interests and partially drawn commitments, in order to target accelerated NAV development. JPEL employs an opportunistic, deep value private equity investment strategy and focuses on value-oriented investments with potential for early return of capital. 

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About J.P. Morgan Private Equity Limited 

J.P. Morgan Private Equity Limited is a Guernsey registered and incorporated, London Stock Exchange-listed, closed-ended investment company (LSE: JPEL, JPEZ, JPZZ) designed primarily to invest in the global private equity market. The investment objective of the Company is to achieve both short and long-term capital appreciation by investing in a well diversified portfolio of private equity fund interests and by capitalising on the inefficiencies of the secondary private equity market.  The Company's capital structure consists of three classes of shares: Equity Shares and two classes of Zero Dividend Preference Shares due 2013 and 2015, respectively.

On 17 August 2009, JPEL issued warrants free of subscription cost to shareholders on record. The warrants are publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol "JPWW." 

J.P. Morgan Private Equity Limited

Troy Duncan / Gregory Getschow

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7742 3032 / +1 212 648 1150

Peregrine Communications

Anthony Payne / Paul Mungo

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 3178 6869 / +44 (0)20 7822 2307