Harbourvest Global Priva... Share Discussion Threads

[apple53] 03/2/2024 21:18

Shame but I had to flip some of my recent purchases as in desperate need of cash. I was, however, fortunate that it was yesterday afternoon that I realised and I didn't trade til 4:12 so I got 2382. I always plan to hold forever but if the discount closes towards 30% but opens elsewhere......

By the way I think HVPE have come a long way in 3-4 years in their thinking. Yes it's been slow, but I imagine there are internal barriers to each step, whether or not they are driven by a desire to avoid slowing fee growth by spending.

[arja] 03/2/2024 15:04

surprisingly big move on friday in not exactly a bullish overall market . probably a pullback on monday on profit takinng but one can never be sure in markets :)

[riverman77] 02/2/2024 17:45

As expected a nice rise after a short delay for markets to digest the news.

[cousinit] 01/2/2024 11:06

This does feel like a positive move. While by no means perfect it does seem like there has been a significant shift in approach.

If they have managed to 'skip' an existing commitment and have scaled back new commitments that should provide headroom for decent buybacks (which can accelerate).

[chc15] 01/2/2024 10:30

I bought a little earlier, encouraging news.

[riverman77] 01/2/2024 09:39

Good to see HVPE follow the likes of PIN and APEO in retuning cash to shareholders. I think a distribution pool is a sensible approach - gives them flexibility to adjust the amount of returns depending on the level of realisations, and also decide whether to go for dividends or buybacks depending on level of discount. The last thing you want is for them to commit to a fixed dividend which they then have to cut, for example if realisations temporarily dry up. The fact they have put in place a fully independent board to oversee all this is another positive.

Also worth noting - the total amount of cash allocation to the Pool in 2024 will be materially greater than the amount spent on buybacks since Sep 22. The buybacks were worth 1. 3% so hopefully at least 2.5% to 3%.

They say the average realisations over past 3y is 568m USD - 15% of this would represent a roughly 3.8% shareholder return at current market price. Not bad.

[donald pond] 01/2/2024 09:37

Fwiw I prefer buybacks to dividends but you have to take the PSH approach and go big for years and years. I'd be quite happy if they stopped all new commitments and said everything will be spent on buybacks until discount is below 5%. What would be the worst outcome is if this is just lip service and they announce similar size buybacks to those in recent years.

[donald pond] 01/2/2024 09:26

It's a first step in the right direction. But as John Singer said in his recent interview on the Money makers podcast, if you are trading at a 40% discount to NAV, the starting point must be to either improve that or wind up.

[donald pond] 01/2/2024 07:42

Well, realisations to fund a pool to be used for returning cash to shareholders. We just need to secondary market to wake up and should be off to the races

[lynton3] 31/1/2024 23:27

I found this in Peel Hunt's 2024 recs on Citywire. Has anyone seen any other reference to HVPE looking at implementing a dividend policy?

Peel Hunt’s corporate client HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) ... The board has bought back 2.2m shares over the last 18 months for £48m, but still trades 39% below par and is in discussions with shareholders about a potential dividend policy to be funded by realisations.

[apple53] 30/1/2024 10:20

HVPE has slipped again vs others going sideways or up, so now has the highest discount by around 5pp (on my 'real time' NAV). So I have sold Herald and OSB to buy more HVPE. ii is giving me a great quote of 2314, close to the bid (spread 2310-30), which means essentially no spread and no stamp.

[riverman77] 08/11/2023 16:45

Or better commit to a small dividend - even paying out 2% of NAV each would give a near 4% yield at current share price.

[lynton3] 08/11/2023 16:41

Thanks, Nakinbuks, I did read it, and I was trying to make the point that HVPE needs to listen to Mr Singer's message and change its way of thinking. Maybe they can't do buybacks right now. But, right now, they can make a plan that will enable them to change and deliver meaningful buybacks in the near future.

[makinbuks] 08/11/2023 09:02

But lynton, read rambutan's post. HVPE doesn't have the option to follow Pantheon

[lynton3] 07/11/2023 18:02

The message from Mr Singer was loud and clear, and the HVPE board should wake up and smell the coffee (as they say).

Or does the board have clear evidence that HVPE's shareholders are so different from PIN's?

[rambutan2] 07/11/2023 16:19

PIN's balance sheet was very conservative ie net cash. HVPE's is currently a little stretched ie approx 15% geared. So little room for sizeable buybacks.

[lynton3] 07/11/2023 16:08

You should watch this video of the Chairman of Pantheon speaking about the buy back!

hxxps://citywire.com/investment-trust-insider/news/pantheon-s-john-singer-private-equity-must-do-hell-of-a-lot-more/a2429759?re=114465&refea=206187

[makinbuks] 26/10/2023 09:56

I agree, they have 200m borrowings no longer covered by cash on the BS so any returns have to come from sales

[cousinit] 26/10/2023 08:28

PIN were conservative in managing the balance sheet. HVPE made chunky commitments after the Covid hiatus. Suspect it'll take a year or two of moderating new commitments to build up some firepower for material cash returns.

At least they aren't still trying to explain why they are an unnecessary distraction!

[donald pond] 26/10/2023 08:00

Decent results, but a very small buyback programme and a plan to look at distributions lacks conviction imo. As PIN have shown, if you want to go down that route you have to commit fully. I've got no doubt HVPE will be fine long term, but that feels like an opportunity missed

[makinbuks] 18/10/2023 16:08

But if you were a PIN holder wouldn't you now sell and switch to the better value at HVPE? Again, these are just short term swings in the share price, what counts is the quality of the underlying investments, how they are performing and how they are rated.

Each fund is unique. I hold APAX and like the dividend and loan portfolio but that doesn't mean I expect every other PE trust to follow suit

[riverman77] 18/10/2023 14:53

I posted this on the PIN thread this morning, but probably more relevant to HVPE so copying here:

PIN now trades at a roughly 25% premium to HVPE so this really should put pressure on them to take some sort of action. As far as I'm aware HVPE are the only one of the big PE funds not to pay any dividend nor any buybacks, so basically shareholders not seeing any return on their investment. I wonder if AVI could step in and put pressure on them next?

[makinbuks] 18/10/2023 14:09

Yes nice graph

[donald pond] 18/10/2023 11:39

Sums it uphttps://x.com/donaldpond6/status/1714571914490867956?s=46&t=YfR7OyhMlqZLtI-h86iCxA