Activity is accelerating, with “take-private” deals on the rise, says Peter Knight.
Activity levels in our part of the market are high: already this quarter, we have completed three co-investment fundraises, with a fourth opportunity in a premium grocery business being launched imminently.
As well as a new investment in LXO Group, a leading French pharmaceuticals business, we also provided substantial follow-on funding to support the faster-than-expected growth of two companies (Liberis and Oxbury) in the rapidly-expanding fintech sector. This demonstrates the strength of the opportunities we are offering and the important role co-investment is playing in business success and value creation.
The market is picking up across all sizes of business and all sectors. In particular, we are seeing a noticeable uptick in “take-private” deals being syndicated out to co-investors, and we expect more to come this year. Valuations of UK-listed companies are very attractive compared to historic levels and when seen in relation to other parts of the world. What’s more, there are significant opportunities to effect major business transformation in private hands than is generally possible in public companies, increasing the value creation potential.
There’s a big difference between a company trading on AIM, which is backed by a raft of small retail investors and which is subject to short-term targets that discourage long-term strategic planning, and a company backed by a major private equity house as the majority shareholder. Public companies bought out by these types of firms have the full might of their operations behind them in terms of active portfolio management, exploiting synergies with other portfolio companies and financial restructuring solutions. All of these factors should result in them becoming better businesses.
The problem for private investors is that, once a company has gone private, existing investors no longer have a seat at the table, and it’s all but impossible to get exposure. This is why the Connection Capital approach is so powerful: we can provide that access.
Overall, the co-investment ecosystem is gaining critical mass and is increasingly an important part of the investment landscape as a route to capital deployment. Trends we’ve been seeing for some time continue to develop – notably the growing inclination of fund managers to raise capital on a deal-by-deal basis alongside co-investors, and sometimes to pivot away from funds altogether in favour of co-investments.
The co-investment space can be seen as something of a bellwether for wider market sentiment, and from where we sit, working with many different fund managers looking at a range of opportunities, we're well-positioned to see some early signs that the private equity activity more generally may be starting to move again. It’s a positive place to be.