The trust has clocked up several years of outperformance, according to FE Analytics, and sits in the top quartile of the AIC IT Private Equity sector over one, three, five and 10 years.
In the five years to October 31, the trust delivered a whopping 262.17 per cent return, against the sector average of 85.74 per cent. Its performance is equally impressive over 10 years, during which time it generated a return of 132.24 per cent, compared to the sector’s 92.23 per cent return.
Mr Lebus refers to the investment trust’s mature portfolio of assets when explaining its recent performance, and the fact that the funds it is investing in are themselves fairly mature. “Because of that, they are within a period within which most of the activity is about harvesting the gains of the assets that they’ve invested in and selling those assets at an appropriate time in order to do that,” he adds.
Foreign exchange effects can detract from performance, Mr Lebus observes, with the trust exposed to different currencies via investments in assets around the world. However, he reasons: “I think over the short term, currency effects can be quite pronounced. Over the longer term, it is our view that as an investor seeking capital gains over long periods, currency effects shouldn’t make a big difference to your actual investment outcomes.”
EXPERT VIEW
Ben Willis, head of research, Whitechurch Securities
This is a trust that has truly global exposure, mainly achieved through investing in private equity funds, although some direct investing is also carried out. The trust has certainly benefited in recent years from having more than 50 per cent of the portfolio in the US, and has delivered exceptional performance across the medium term. The vintage of the portfolio is very diverse, stemming from the fact that this trust is the longest private equity fund-of-fund trust on the market.
