As seen in The Times: Wealth Club gives investors chance to join the private equity “party”

I recently discussed this with Tracey Boles, the Business Editor at The Times. You can request a copy of the full article below.

Over the past couple of decades, interest in private equity has grown. To some it felt like the best party in town, but one to which ordinary people were not invited.

Large institutions – from sovereign wealth funds to pension funds and the endowment funds of the likes of Harvard and Yale – have enjoyed access to some of the best growth stories, happening outside of public exchanges.

Yet, until now individual investors have had to watch this private equity boom unfold, without being easily able to participate because of very high minimum investment values and complex and illiquid investment structures.

This is now finally changing. Barriers to investor participation in Private Equity are coming down.

There are now new, more flexible fund structures so qualifying individual investors can invest in Private Equity funds from some of the world's leading managers for as little as £10,000. And Wealth Club has launched the first platform of its kind to make this possible.

Over the long term, Private Equity has consistently outperformed its public market equivalents, although this is not a guide to the future. In the 25 years from 1999 to 2024, annualised returns on Private Equity funds surpassed global listed equity funds by 7.3% a year.

It is important to note that Private Equity sits at the riskier end of the investment spectrum and the investments are illiquid and harder and less certain to value. Private equity investments are only for eligible investors with sufficient knowledge and experience to understand the risk and able to afford any losses.

Imagine you invested $10,000 into a hypothetical basket of Private Equity funds in 1999.

If you’d left this investment and allowed it to compound, you could in theory be sitting on around $200,000 today. That compares with an equivalent return of roughly $37,000 from global public equities fund (see chart below).

Past performance is not a guide to the future: returns are not guaranteed and capital is at risk. The chart below is for illustrative purposes only.

The Times article mentions Wealth Club’s Private Markets platform which gives qualifying investors access to some of the best-known specialist managers.

Launched in November, the platform’s aim is to make investing in semi-liquid private market funds as easy as buying a unit or investment trust.

Note that private markets investments are high risk and illiquid and should be seen as a long-term commitment. Any returns could take several years and are not guaranteed: you could lose the capital you invest. Through Wealth Club you’ll be able to see a directory of private market funds, but for more details you’ll first need to quality as a high net worth or sophisticated investor.

You can access our Private Markets platform and find out if you’re potentially eligible to invest from this website.