Since the early 1990s, we have seen a transformation in public markets. The democratisation of access, brought about by the efficiencies driven by digitisation, has expanded access to public markets, lowered fees and transformed nearly every Australian into an equity holder in listed companies not only domestically, but internationally too.
While democratisation and digitisation has touched nearly every corner of public markets, access to private markets and, in particular equity equity, remains elusive.
The largest institutional investors in the world turn to private markets to help diversify their portfolio and target outperformance. They do so with help from the leading global fund managers, who offer significant expertise and proven track records.
When we compare this to the portfolio of an Australian family who are building a nest-egg – perhaps with the help of an advisor – they do not have the same level of access, knowledge, or comfort to invest like an institution into private equity. Their portfolio, therefore, is predominantly held in listed shares and cash.
This is unfair. There is a growing demand on the part of sophisticated investors in Australia to access these world leading fund managers. On the other hand, the fund managers themselves are actually anxious to diversify their fundraising base. It is finally time for the democratisation and digitisation of private equity.
Private equity basically is a type of alternative investment that describes investing money into private assets, investments or market segments that are not listed on a public exchange. These are typically run through a fund structure, where the fund manager seeks money from investors to acquire controlling stakes in private companies / assets, and then funds innovation, expands working capital, or tries to improve the company’s balance sheet. Each fund manager may have an investment thesis or specialty and will look for target companies where they believe they can make a real difference. Depending on how successful the fund manager was, any profits (minus fund manager fees) are returned to the investors.
Our vision is to enable Australian sophisticated investors exclusive and unprecedented access to institutional-grade private equity opportunities offered by the world’s leading asset managers. We are committed to bringing this market out of the shadows and supporting a community of both investors, and their advisors, to invest in this space effectively.
We chose the private equity space because of its potential to provide diversification and the potential for performance. While there are many contributors to investment performance there is often untapped value in private companies that can be unlocked by the capital and expertise provided by a seasoned fund manager. This can help a company as they grow rapidly, merge and acquire other interests, expand or specialise as the case may be. In the private equity space companies are not subject to the same disclosure requirements as listed companies and their capital is far less liquid, meaning they are freer to act with long-term interests in mind.
We offer our community exclusive, institutional-grade private equity investment opportunities from the leading global asset managers, which have not been available to Australian sophisticated investors before. In other words, we are acting as a distributor on behalf of the world’s leading fund managers, enabled by technology. Our technology allows us to lower the barriers to entry into these funds and assist the fund manager with the administration from individual capital allocations.
We select investment opportunities on the basis of the quality of investment manager, their historical performance, volatility, timeliness to market and the diversity and calibre of assets held. While we are not investment managers, nor financial advisers, and cannot guarantee or foresee performance we ensure that we are selective of our partners and ensure we provide you with the information so you can make a decision as to whether they are right for you.
Always remember that all investments carry risk, some of which is known and other unknown at the time of investment. You may lose or gain money. Past performance is also not indicative of future performance. Before making a financial decision, you should read the carefully the relevant Information Memorandum and seek advice from investment professionals.
By their nature private equity opportunities are limited; typically they open for a short period of time until the capital requirement is filled then the fund closes. As a consequence, private equity requires investors to maintain a readiness to review opportunities and act in real-time.
The limited availability of investment opportunities requires a proactive approach from investors. We allow our community to pre-register their interest in opportunities before they open and we provide access on a first in basis.
For more information about our available private equity funds, please visit our private equity funds page.
