Petershill Partners unveils special divi as first-half profits rise

Private equity group Petershill Partners has reiterated its guidance for 2024 after a solid first half, with double-digit growth in partner fee-related earnings and assets under management, as it announced a special dividend following a recent disposal.

The $258m sale of its entire stake in LMR Partners back to its management team, announced on 4 September, has enabled Petershill to return $97m (or 9.0 cents a share) to shareholders, in addition to the 5.0 cents-a-share interim dividend.

Adjusted profit after tax jumped to $94m in the six months to 30 June, up from $68m the year before, with partner fee-related earnings (PRE) rising 13% to $112m.

Petershill completed four acquisitions in the period totalling $205m and made a number of strategic disposals – such as the sale of a partial interest in AKKR back to management totalling $51m – which it said "further focus[es] the company on private market strategies".

Meanwhile, the company reported "robust" partner-firm asset raising and AuM growth with $14bn of gross fee eligible assets raised in the first half despite a "challenging fund-raising environment". Aggregate partner-firm AuM increased 11% to $332bn, while aggregate fee-paying AuM jumped 21% to $238bn.

"Whist economic uncertainty persists and may impact near-term PRE and Investment Income, we remain confident in our diverse portfolio of high-quality partner-firms, which combined with our high profitability margin, significant level of accrued performance revenues and strong cash conversion, underpins our strategy for growth and capital return to shareholders," said global co-managing directors Ali Raissi-Dehkordy and Robert Hamilton Kelly in a joint statement.