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Wilshire Private Markets Group

Last Updated : 17 Jul 2007

Website:  www.wilshire.com

AGEST and Wilshire

AGEST employs Wilshire to manage part of the fund's allocation to private equity assets (that is, companies that are not listed on a stock exchange).

Our investment with Wilshire is in the Australian private equity sector, via the Wilshire Australian Private Markets ("WAPM") funds.

We have committed $65 million to these funds, however this money will not be fully drawn until Wilshire has a sufficient number of suitable investments. This may take several years.

Objective and strategy

The objective of the WAPM funds is to produce returns considerably in excess of the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index* over the life of the funds.

*This index measures the performance of the largest 300 stocks on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).  Dividends paid by companies are included in this calculation of performance.

The WAPM funds are fund-of-funds vehicles, which means that Wilshire will invest in around 10 private equity funds managed by other managers.  Wilshire selects the best funds from over 100 small private equity funds, based on their expertise, experience and desired mix of individual funds.

The underlying funds usually specialise in particular types of private equity, such as buy outs, expansion capital and venture capital.  The aim of these funds is to generate strong returns by investing in unlisted companies that have good potential but seek assistance (financial and/or managerial) to achieve their potential.

Private equity can have large risks (eg a company can fail) but, if well structured and managed, private equity "fund-of-funds" vehicles like the WAPM funds can produce strong long term returns.