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We reviewed ICGT’s latest annual seminar in our note, Investor seminar 2025: resilience and growth. The key takeaways were i) PE remains a structurally attractive allocation within an investment portfolio, ii) a share in ICG Enterprise Trust gives investors exposure to a unique portfolio of profitable and cash-generative private companies across North America and Europe, iii) a nimble approach to portfolio construction across primary, secondary and co-investments, supported by robust balance sheet, and iv) the board and manager adopt a holistic approach to maximising shareholder value. ICGT is one of the relatively few “ISA millionaires” in the AIC review. Buybacks continue (11 days in August).

  • Manager value-add: Across the seminar, slides revealed benchmark-beating IRRs in primary and secondary fund investments, lower-than-peer loss rates in co-investments (none since 2016), and faster-than-market EBITDA growth. Unsurprisingly, this has delivered material long-term share outperformance.
  • Hardman Talks interviews: ICGT’s two interviews answered investors’ questions on: why an investor should consider ICGT; recent transaction activity; portfolio construction; buying secondaries; ICGT’s portfolio; capital allocation; forex management and tariffs; valuations; the NAV discount; and market news.
  • Valuation:  ICGT’s NAV valuations are conservative (regular realisation uplifts). The ratings are undemanding, and the ongoing carry value against cost is modest. The 27% discount to NAV is anomalous, we believe, with defensive, market-beating returns, and is above the levels seen pre COVID-19. The 2025E yield is 2.7%.
  • Risks:  PE’s post-expense returns are consistently market-beating, but this is an above-average cost model. Even though actual experience has been of continued NAV outperformance in economic downturns, sentiment is likely to be adverse. We believe ICGT’s permanent capital structure is right for unquoted and illiquid assets.
  • Investment summary:  ICGT has consistently generated superior returns, by adding value in an attractive market, having a strategic focus on defensive growth and exploiting ICG synergies. Valuations appear conservative, and governance is strong. ICGT focuses on delivering resilient, risk-adjusted returns. The risks are primarily sentiment-driven on costs and cyclicality, and on the liquidity of the underlying assets. It seems anomalous, in our view, to have a consistent record of outperformance and to trade at a 27% discount to NAV.
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