James Witter

Really enjoyed being on the panel at Private Equity Insights conference in London last week discussing best sectors for Private Equity going forward. PE investments are long term and it’s important for PE to invest in sectors with long term positive trends. Operational improvement is key for PE managers to deliver best returns and hence specialization is a key trend we can observe in the industry. In our selection of managers, Cubera Private Equity focuses on their sector expertise and ability to improve businesses.   #privateequity

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Excellent that Phoenix and Schroders are partnering to create a huge new fund to channel money directly into fast growing private companies, as reported by the FT. "The world is shifting from public to private" and "The UK's private companies are an untapped universe of investment opportunity" according to Schroders CEO. This is fantastic news for the UK Middle Market space where entrepreneurialism is abundant in highly motivated Board rooms up and down the UK. Investment managers will likely struggle to generate market leading returns if the middle market space is absent from their strategy given the high growth nature of this market segment. It bodes well for middle market M&A advisors and sellers with more buyers now in town and means some niche advisors, if they haven't already, need to turn to private company advisory to remain in the game in the context of advisor consolidation over the last couple of years. #corporatefinance #investmentbanking #privateequity

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This month, I appeared on the FT Advisor podcast speaking with Simoney Kyriakou at the Financial Times about the growth of Independent Investment Management Initiative and what this means for the outlook for specialist asset managers. We touched on regulation, DE&I, innovation and the opportunities for the most entrepreneurial firms and the most active, active asset managers in our sector. What a pleasure, thank you Simoney Kyriakou. #boutiques #assetmanagement #growth

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How are retail investors navigating market volatility? Great to speak to a podcasting master, in the form of Carl Hazeley from Finimize, about the results of the latest Modern Investor Pulse - lifting the lid on retail investor trends. Listen to the latest abrdn Macro Bytes episode here -> https://lnkd.in/e73BV6dc

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The macro economic landscape is constantly evolving and changing the outlook for risk and reward. Here’s our take on it right now.

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Join our webcast with chief strategist Luca Paolini on Tuesday 3rd December for our return forecasts for the next 12 months across asset classes as well as the implications of Trumponomics for markets. We'll also cover: -Why the UK could be the growth wildcard and outperform its European counterparts -Why we expect a modest recovery in the Euro-area economy next year -How conditions are becoming supportive for risk assets globally Register here: https://lnkd.in/dujXsWY9

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There seems to be a perception that private equity should be or should act like levered listed equity when it doesn’t in reality” Patria Private Equity Trust’s Lead Manager Alan Gauld spoke to Adam Lewis for Portfolio Adviser PA+ to examine how private equity acts as a diversifier to traditional bonds and listed equities. With more than 30k companies globally now securing private equity backing and listed equities shrinking, there has never been a better time to take a fresh look at this exciting sector. View the full video below https://lnkd.in/g3RHV96m #InvestmentTrust #PrivateEquity #PrivateEquityTrust #PPET #AlternativeInvestments

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#Venture is never easy - and we welcome the UK government's initiative to unlock additional capital for high-growth UK private companies, and to boost retirement income for UK workers. However, the way forward is more complex than what one might think. Have a look at the interview of our CIO, David Clark, to understand what investors need to know before building a #venturecapital investment programme.

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Hello everyone. Hope your week has started well. I just wanted to highlight some excellent reporting from Jamie Colvin in Citywire - see article in first link below. Tom Poynton has also had the ingenious idea to create a "forum" to garner an understanding of retail investors' understanding of the many issues facing the investment companies sector (the link is in the article). Our campaign has often highlighted how new well-intended Consumer Duty regulations have turbo-charged the negative impact of IC "cost" disclosures. Recent attention has rightly been given to one aspect of this turbo-charging: retail platforms wrongly interpreting "value" and "cost" and not only misinforming consumers, but now banning them from investing in investment companies based on utterly floored logic. Do these platforms have the expertise to be making these judgements? Where they do not and they outsource, has there been proper due diligence on third parties used to make assessments of value? https://lnkd.in/eA4SHXjW We will not rest. Have a good week. Ben https://lnkd.in/eh9G9NWM

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Further clear thinking on low dependency and run on strategies…

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Blue Owl / GP stakes: The document attached below is worth a read. The only part I’d add to would be the “innovations in the industry” question at the end, where the answer is very much addressed at the large cap space. For me, the biggest innovation is the overall development of the concept of often highly structured GP solutions. GP stakes are one of a number of grades of variation between NAV lending, pref equity and diversification of ownership of management companies. A lot of the innovation I see happening is around smaller GPs with less AUM who are seeking GP finance for specific situations. #gpstakes

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Shaw and Partners is pleased to be appointed as a Joint Lead Manager to a capital raising by Bowen Coking Coal Ltd. The Company is raising approximately A$70 million comprising 2.66 for 1 pro rata renounceable entitlement offer with 1 free attaching new option for every 2 New Securities subscribed for to raise approximately A$70 million before costs (“Entitlement Offer”). The Entitlement Offer is partially underwritten by the Joint Lead Managers up to $40.5 million. New securities issued under the Offer will be issued at $0.009 per share. The Offer Price reflects a 25.0% discount to the last traded price on 13 September 2024 of A$0.012 and 8.3% discount to TERP of A$0.0098. Proceeds from the entitlement offer will provide Bowen with balance sheet flexibility to fund the Plumtree North mine development costs at the Company’s Burton Mine Complex, pre-payments, guarantees and general working capital. Bowen Coking Coal Limited has established a strategic position in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. The Company’s Burton Mine Complex (90% owned) near Moranbah encompasses multiple operations with the Ellensfield South, Plumtree North and Broadmeadow East Mines serving a co-located Coal Handling and Preparation Plant and train load out facility connected by a dedicated haul road. Additionally, Bowen fully owns the Bluff PCI Mine near Blackwater (in care and maintenance) and holds the Isaac River (100%), Hillalong (85%) Cooroorah (100%), Carborough (100%) and Comet Ridge (100%) coking coal projects and is a joint venture partner in Lilyvale (15% interest) and Mackenzie (5% interest) with Stanmore Resources Limited. The issuer of the securities is Bowen Coking Coal Limited. Offers of the securities will be made in (or accompanied by) a copy of the Prospectus, available at https://lnkd.in/gzavA3ek and you should consider the disclosure document carefully before deciding whether to acquire the securities. To acquire securities under the offer investors will need to complete an application process detailed in the disclosure document.

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Join us for an exclusive webinar on 8/22 when I team up with Blair Bonner and Spencer Francis from Linqto to demystify private equity and pre-IPO stock investments. What you’ll learn: ·   The basics and benefits of private equity in an SDIRA ·   How to seamlessly integrate sectors like AI and blockchain into your retirement plan ·   Simplifying the investment process with user-friendly platforms Don't miss out—register today! https://lnkd.in/eunuGnVE

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“Mind the gap” between the constructive and engaged public commentary and the critical and increasingly concerned private commentary on UK Penson Funds re-aligning to the UK public equity markets. The vested interests are not aligned in this discussion with the result that time is running out for delivering an effective solution to the ongoing liquidity drain from UK Public Equity markets. Pension fund managers first and foremost must put the interests of pension fund holders first, then there are the genuine concerns from pension trustees about being forced to invest in “underperforming UK assets” and this quite apart from the need for both more of us to save for our pensions and to save more to provide the level of pensions we need. Listen to the discussion and you can only conclude that the UK Government has to make the “investment” case for UK Public Equity markets significantly more compelling/ attractive to achieve far greater active pension engagement and higher asset allocations to the UK Public Equity markets. Whether that is achieved through the abolition of stamp duty, bringing back some form of tax credit on UK dividends, creating a British ISA and changing the rules and obligations on pension fund trustees and fund managers or a combination of some/ all of the above or indeed other means (and quickly) is what the pension fund industry needs in order for it to willingly step up in size. If the UK Government really has no fiscal scope to do these things, then – all other things being equal -  the UK pension fund industry is unlikely of itself to upsize its asset allocations to the UK Public Equity Market. That leaves only one alternative which is for the UK Government to legislate requiring UK Pension funds to allocate a minimum level of asset allocation to UK public equities. A “forced” solution is not what anyone wants – the UK Government should be setting policies that create the conditions for self-interested pro-active engagement by UK Pension Funds into greater UK public equity asset allocations. Time is increasingly short and discussion time targets of “2026 and beyond” are simply far too distant. Moreover this entire issue is potentially about to become much more difficult – Trump will be in the White House in January 2025, cutting US regulations, cutting US taxes and imposing US trade tariffs, providing potentially yet more fiscal stimulus to the US economy. If you believe that the US equity market will respond in a positive way to “Trumponomics” – then the UK needs to get its act together very quickly indeed as the investment case “gap” between UK  public equities and global equities is likely to widen further and potentially accelerate away from us. The time for taking action is now – it is a “call to arms” that the UK must heed. Failure to act leaves U.K. plc exposed to becoming substantially poorer.

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Nice article from Craig Coben that summarises some of the positive signs we've been seeing in the UK equity markets recently - outperformance vs. US/Europe, strong broader ECM issuance, the restart of IPO issuance and an increasing pipeline!

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The relentless flow of capital out of actively managed funds and multi-asset strategies, into technology-enabled quantitative low cost passive models and strategies has been utterly phenomenal. The Citywire article below illustrates this. The amount of good quality choice available to intermediaries and UK savers is brilliant. BUT: good value for money is not only found in these low cost solutions. Watch out for our Crescendo on Friday where we make the case for active fund management. We show how dedication and hard work can increase your probability of finding great managers- and that they can and do contribute to multi-asset solutions that produce excellent results. Our Vanbrugh fund, which, through its over 15 year life, has generated consistent top quartile returns (#2 in the sector since launch)…. Has done so with over 60% of the portfolio (and often much more than this) invested purely in actively managed open-ended funds. In fact, given our low weighting to US large caps through this entire period (oooph) it’s only because of these funds that we’ve performed so well. There’s a place in multi asset investing for good quality solutions - active and passive. Beware of those who knock either side. The truth is, they’re complementary, not competitors. It’s consistent performance net of costs that matters. Daniel Lockyer Ben Mackie Dan Cartridge David Chapman

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Given the prevalence of PE dominated groups in nearly all facets of the economy, central banks will need to do these deep-dives further to understand second and third order stress scenarios and effects. #PrivateEquity #VentureCapital #ImpactInvesting #Economy #UKEconomy #Investing https://lnkd.in/dNp3t3N6

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For the first time in years, rising yields have made bonds a much more powerful part of the asset allocator’s toolkit. How should asset allocators be thinking about the role of fixed income in portfolios? Download the report → https://bit.ly/3yddQc3

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