Pantheon International (PIN) has been getting serious about selling its assets in a bid to improve its performance.
The £2.3bn trust, which invests in private companies both directly and through other private equity houses, has embarked on a cull of its managers after a period of muted performance. While the share price has been strong, the trust returned just 4.3 per cent on a net asset value (NAV) basis in the year to 31 May.
This is better than some peers, but falls short of what investors expect from private equity. As Winterflood analyst Alex Trett put it: “While NAV performance improved modestly year on year, an annualised NAV return of 3.9 per cent over the past three years is unlikely to satisfy investors.”