ICG Enterprise Trust newsletter – July 2023

In their third monthly newsletter, Oliver and Colm look back at the ICG Enterprise Trust Investor Day, consider interest rates and look ahead to the British summer.

June was a busy month at ICG Enterprise Trust, hosting our first ever investor day as well as having our AGM and publishing our Q1 results.

The investor day was very enjoyable to do, and a big “thank you” to all those who attended and contributed. If you haven’t seen already, a recording is available here.

A group of us – including the Chair of ICG Enterprise Trust – spent time exploring our investment strategy in detail: why we focus on buyouts of profitable, mid-market and larger companies in Europe and North America; and why we construct our portfolio between primary, secondary and direct investments in the way we do. In short, we try to position ICG Enterprise Trust to generate “defensive growth”, enabling shareholders to benefit from compounding returns over the long term.

We have been of the view for some time that rates were likely to be higher for longer, and that countries and sectors could be impacted in quite different ways. As we go into the summer, vigilance and prudence – especially around debt levels and capital structure – are guiding our investment committees and portfolio monitoring discussions. That said, during Q1 we had 10 full exits that were realised at a weighted-average uplift to carrying value of 20% – underpinning our confidence today in our Portfolio’s valuation.

With the tennis at Queen’s having finished and it raining as I write this, it feels the British summer has truly begun. Often a slower time in private markets, there will no doubt be some interesting things to discuss in the coming months.

P.S. Newer to the world of private equity? The glossary on our website has some explanations of key terms that may be helpful.

*Past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance