Perennial launches third private to public fund
Perennial has launched its third private company investment fund for wholesale investors, opening from 14 July, 2021.
The minimum raising for the Perennial Private to Public Opportunities Fund No. 3 will be $50 million in new capital, up to a maximum of $200 million.
Brendan Lyons, Perennial’s head of private investments, said the group had received an increased number of enquiries from investors looking to invest.
“We are seeing the unlisted space continue to grow as emerging businesses opt to stay private for longer and engage with institutional investors before they transition to a public listing,” Lyons said.
“This is helping to expand the opportunity set for investors in our Funds.”
Fund No. 3 would employ the same investment strategy as Funds No. 1 and No. 2, with the goal of generating “superior returns” from an actively managed portfolio of 30 to 45 positions in private companies, initial public offerings (IPOs), pre-IPOs, and discounted placements, over a five-year period.
As at 31 May, 2021, Fund No. 1 generated a cumulative return of 77.1% inclusive of distributions and net of fees since inception in August 2019, while Fund No. 2 was launched last September.
Lyons said the capital raised for Fund No. 2 last year was now fully deployed, and performance was tracking in-line with Fund No. 1 when it was a similar age.
“The returns generated by our first fund highlight the value upside that is available to investors in this exciting and growing space,” Lyons said.
The portfolio management team for the fund comprised of Lyons, along with perennial head of smaller companies and microcaps Andrew Smith, and portfolio manager Ryan Sohn.
Perennial would also add Karen Chan on 5 July who would join as senior investment director. She was formerly head of emerging companies at Investec.
Recommended for you
There is one specific risk that is a significantly higher concern for financial services directors compared to companies overall and is impacting their risk appetite, according to the AICD.
Global fund managers are shunning bonds, with the asset class seeing the largest drop in allocations in more than 20 years.
Australian Ethical has seen its funds under management reach $10 billion, driven by organic customer growth and superannuation contributions.
Financial advisers will have access to private equity investments run by WTW for the first time as it launches a pooled fund to provide savers with access to traditionally institutional assets.
