Pantheon International PLC

Specialist

Rated Fund 2013-2018. A fund-of-funds approach with a spread of risk and reward

In 2017, Pantheon International celebrated its 30th anniversary since listing on the London Stock Exchange. It is the UK's longest-established private equity fund of funds and has grown from �12 million to �1.4 billion. It has generated average annual net asset value per share growth of 11.8 per cent, outperforming both the FTSE All-Share (8.2 per cent) and MSCI World (8 per cent).

The lead manager is Andrew Lebus, who heads a team of 70 investment professionals. He actively manages risk by carefully selecting high-quality private equity funds to create a diversified and balanced portfolio. Exposure is balanced across buyout, venture and growth, and special situations funds from a multitude of geographical regions.Nearly half of the portfolio is invested in secondary investments, with the remainder roughly split between primary investments and co-investments. The portfolio strategy emphasises secondary investments in order to maintain a mature portfolio profile and therefore benefit from the cash distributions that gives the trust its financial strength and investment pace.

However, Pantheon's exposure to direct investment in private companies rather than through funds has increased in recent years to around 25 per cent, up from 3 per cent in 2013. These are co-investments undertaken alongside private equity managers that are already known to Pantheon and have successful track records of managing assets through economic cycles.At the end of 2017, the portfolio was weighted towards the US (56 per cent) and Europe (25 per cent). Its shares have traded on a discount as wide as 30 per cent in the past three years, but have narrowed to around half of that level.

Narrative and ratings content all as of 01 January 2018.

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To maximise capital growth by investing in funds specialising in unquoted investments, acquiring existing unquoted portfolios and participating directly in private placements. Within its stated primary investment objective, the Company invests in private equity funds as secondary interests by subscribing to new funds. The Company may occasionally acquire direct holdings in unquoted companies, usually where a vendor is seeking to sell a combined portfolio of funds and direct holdings. The Company’s investment policy also extends to investment directly in companies where there is a private equity manager, well known to the Company, investing on the same terms.

Managers