Apax Global Alpha NAV down slightly in third quarter

The London-listed company said this was mainly due to the semi-annual dividend paid in the quarter of €22.4m

Adjusted net asset value per share was €1.81 for the third quarter, after a dividend of 4.59 euro cents per share compared to €1.82 at the start of the period.

The board said the total return in the quarter was 2.0%, although on a constant currency basis it was 2.6%, reflecting the appreciation of the euro against the US dollar and sterling.

Apax Global Alpha was 93% invested and had a cash balance of €65.6m at quarter end.

Its board claimed a “well-balanced invested portfolio” with private Equity at 51% and derived investments at 49%.

Sector exposure was spread across all of Apax Partners' focus industries, with technology and telco the most heavily weighted sector, accounting for 38% of the invested portfolio.

The company’s geographic bias remained towards North America, representing 57% of the invested portfolio.

Portfolio performance improved for the three months, with the board claiming income and unrealised gains in derived investments as the driving factors.

Total return year-to-date to 30 September was 1.3%, and total return since IPO was 7.0%.

In the third quarter, derived debt investments were up 3.3% and derived equity investments were up 9.1% .

Private Equity was largely flat during the period at -0.2%, as a result of a slowdown in underlying companies' earnings growth and a lower valuation of AGA's holding in Apax Europe VII carried interest.