1
February 2024
HARBOURVEST GLOBAL PRIVATE
EQUITY LIMITED
("HVPE"
or the "Company")
Notice of changes to HVPE
Board and Investment Committee composition
·
HVPE to have fully independent Board from July
2024 AGM
·
HarbourVest Managing Directors Carolina Espinal
and Richard Hickman to join HVPE Investment Committee
HVPE, a FTSE 250 investment company
with global exposure to private companies, managed by HarbourVest
Partners, today announces two changes to its governance
structure.
Board composition
The Board and Investment Manager have
noted the feedback received from shareholders and other
stakeholders in recent months. Alongside today's announcement of a
new distribution policy, the Board is pleased to announce that from
the July 2024 AGM, all directors will be fully independent of the
Investment Manager. HarbourVest Managing Director Carolina Espinal,
who has served as a Non-Executive Director on the HVPE Board since
July 2019, has decided not to stand for re-election in July 2024.
The HVPE Chair and Board are grateful to Carolina for her valuable
contribution over the last several years.
Investment Committee membership
While Carolina's role as a
Non-Executive Director will come to an end, the HVPE Board is
pleased that she has undertaken to continue to support HVPE by
means of being a non-voting participant at relevant Board meetings
alongside fellow HarbourVest Managing Director Richard Hickman.
Furthermore, both Carolina and Richard, with effect from 1 February
2024, will join the HVPE Investment Committee as full members
alongside the two existing members: HarbourVest Managing Director
and Executive Management Committee member John Toomey, and
HarbourVest Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer Greg
Stento.
Conclusion
The HVPE Board and Investment Manager
believe strongly that these measures represent further improvements
to the established corporate governance and investment
decision-making structures which have served HVPE well. In the ten
years to 31 December 2023, HVPE has delivered a share price total
return of 273% in sterling, equivalent to 14% on an annualised
basis, as reported in the recent estimated NAV per share monthly
update.
Ed
Warner, Chair of HVPE, commented:
"Together with the new distribution
policy announced separately today, these changes represent a
comprehensive package of measures taken in response to recent
shareholder feedback. Board independence is an increasingly
important area of focus for investors and I am confident that HVPE
will be viewed as having adopted best practice in this
regard.
"HVPE's investment process will be
strengthened by the inclusion of Carolina and Richard as full
members of the HVPE Investment Committee. The Board will continue
to benefit from Carolina's knowledge and expertise as Head of
European Primary investing at HarbourVest, and welcomes the
prospect of an increased level of input from Richard at the
decision-making level, given the considerable specialised
experience he has gained during almost ten years at HarbourVest,
focusing on HVPE. Continued active engagement between the Board and
the expanded HVPE Investment Committee will ensure that HVPE
benefits further from the combined skills and experience of the
four Committee members across the public and private markets, with
a view to securing the best possible outcome for shareholders over
the long term."
- ENDS
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LEI: 213800NBWV6WWV8TOL46
Enquiries:
Notes to
Editors:
About HarbourVest Global Private Equity
Limited:
HarbourVest Global Private Equity
Limited ("HVPE" or the "Company") is a Guernsey-incorporated,
closed-end investment company which is listed on the Main Market of
the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250
index. HVPE is designed to offer shareholders long-term capital
appreciation by investing in a private equity portfolio diversified
by geography, stage of investment, vintage year, and industry. The
Company invests in and alongside HarbourVest-managed funds which
focus on primary fund commitments, secondary investments and direct
co-investments in operating companies. HVPE's investment manager is
HarbourVest Advisers L.P., an affiliate of HarbourVest Partners,
LLC, an independent, global private markets asset manager with over
40 years of experience.
About HarbourVest Partners, LLC:
HarbourVest is an independent, global
private markets firm with 40 years of experience and more than $117
billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2023. Our
interwoven platform provides clients access to global primary
funds, secondary transactions, direct co-investments, real assets
and infrastructure, and private credit. Our strengths extend across
strategies, enabled by our team of more than 1,000 employees,
including more than 200 investment professionals across Asia,
Europe, and the Americas. Across our private markets platform, our
team has committed more than $58 billion to newly-formed funds,
completed over $50 billion in secondary purchases, and invested
over $37 billion in directly operating companies. We partner
strategically and plan our offerings innovatively to provide our
clients with access, insight, and global
opportunities.
This announcement is for information purposes only and does
not constitute or form part of any offer to issue or sell, or the
solicitation of an offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for, any
securities in any jurisdiction and should not be relied upon in
connection with any decision to subscribe for or acquire any
Shares. In particular, this announcement does not constitute
or form part of any offer to issue or sell, or the solicitation of
an offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for, any securities in
the United States or to US Persons (as defined in Regulation S
under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("US Persons")). Neither this
announcement nor any copy of it may be taken, released, published
or distributed, directly or indirectly to US Persons or in or into
the United States (including its territories and possessions),
Canada, Australia or Japan, or any jurisdiction where such action
would be unlawful. Accordingly, recipients represent that they are
able to receive this announcement without contravention of any
applicable legal or regulatory restrictions in the jurisdiction in
which they reside or conduct business. No recipient may distribute,
or make available, this announcement (directly or indirectly) to
any other person. Recipients of this announcement should inform
themselves about and observe any applicable legal requirements in
their jurisdictions.
The Shares have not been and will not be registered under the
US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") or with any securities
regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the
United States and, accordingly, may not be offered, sold, resold,
transferred, delivered or distributed, directly or indirectly,
within the United States or to US Persons. In addition, the
Company is not registered under the US Investment Company Act of
1940, as amended (the "Investment
Company Act") and shareholders of the Company will not have
the protections of that act. There will be no public offer of
the Shares in the United States or to US Persons.
This announcement has been prepared by the Company and its
investment manager, HarbourVest Advisers L.P. (the "Investment Manager"). No liability
whatsoever (whether in negligence or otherwise) arising directly or
indirectly from the use of this announcement is accepted and no
representation, warranty or undertaking, express or implied, is or
will be made by the Company, the Investment Manager or any of their
respective directors, officers, employees, advisers,
representatives or other agents ("Agents") for any information or any of
the opinions contained herein or for any errors, omissions or
misstatements. None of the Investment Manager nor any of their
respective Agents makes or has been authorised to make any
representation or warranties (express or implied) in relation to
the Company or as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of this
announcement, or any other written or oral statement provided. In
particular, no representation or warranty is given as to the
achievement or reasonableness of, and no reliance should be placed
on any projections, targets, estimates or forecasts contained in
this announcement and nothing in this announcement is or should be
relied on as a promise or representation as to the
future.
Other than as required by applicable laws, the Company gives
no undertaking to update this announcement or any additional
information, or to correct any inaccuracies in it which may become
apparent and the distribution of this announcement. The information
contained in this announcement is given at the date of its
publication and is subject to updating, revision and amendment. The
contents of this announcement have not been approved by any
competent regulatory or supervisory authority.
This announcement includes statements that are, or may be
deemed to be, "forward looking statements". These forward
looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking
terminology, including the terms "believes", "projects",
"estimates", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "goal",
"target", "aim", "may", "will", "would", "could", "should" or
"continue" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or
comparable terminology. These forward looking statements include
all matters that are not historical facts and include statements
regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the
Company. By their nature, forward looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on
circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may be
beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Forward looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance. More detailed
information on the potential factors which could affect the
financial results of the Company is contained in the Company's
public filings and reports.
All
investments are subject to risk. Past performance is no guarantee
of future returns. Prospective investors are advised to seek expert
legal, financial, tax and other professional advice before making
any investment decision. The value of investments may fluctuate.
Results achieved in the past are no guarantee of future
results.
This announcement is issued by the Company, whose registered
address is BNP Paribas House, St Julian's Avenue, St Peter
Port, Guernsey, GY1 1WA
©
2024 HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited. All rights
reserved.