By:
Two minutes with Meiping Yap
The average family office is now targeting to allocate 20%1 of their portfolio to private equity. One of the clear attractions has been its strong and consistent outperformance with wealthy families being perfect investors for private equity given their long-term time horizons. This is often referred to as the ‘illiquidity premium’, where investors receive an additional return over public equity markets for tying up capital in the asset class. Over the past two decades, McKinsey has quoted this illiquidity premium to be 3.5%2 above that of the S&P 500.
Mid-sized businesses offer multiple growth levers to private equity active ownership. They have greater potential to scale up faster and are often under-managed, making them most appealing to private equity managers. The mid-market also offers a far deeper and highly diversified pool of opportunities, with the US having more than 165,000 businesses with revenues below $500m compared to 8,000 at the upper end of the market3. This, coupled with comparatively less capital being raised in mid-market funds, makes this particular market segment most attractive for private equity investment.
There have been many positive developments in the private equity space. A key trend over the past decade has been private equity managers building out their platform with strong operating teams, comprising of highly experienced industry experts. These operating partners have become well integrated into the investment process from entry, value creation to exit. Many of these operating partners become an extension of the management team, tasked with executing on strategic growth drivers, accretive acquisitions and operational enhancements such as digitalisation.
Technology has become increasingly embedded into all segments of the economy. We view technology to be one of the most exciting market segments in private equity. Most notably, the pace of innovation continues to accelerate, with all businesses having needed some form of digital transformation through the COVID-19 crisis. This sector will continue to be a core feature of our programme with exposures across a broad spectrum of fast growing private technology businesses such as software, artificial intelligence, data analytics, cybersecurity, robotics and fintech.
Meiping is a Director within the Private Capital Investment team and is responsible for selecting private capital fund investments and managing existing manager relationships. Hear more from Meiping.
(1) UBS Global Family Office Report 2021.
(2) McKinsey Global Private Markets Review 2021.
(3) 2019 SOI Tax Statistics IRS.
The opinions or views expressed are for information purposes only and are subject to change without notice. This information is not intended as promotional material, an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy investments or services. We do not intend for this information to constitute advice, or a personal recommendation, and it should not be relied on as such to enter into a transaction or for any investment decision.

All investments risk the loss of capital. The value of investments may go down as well as up and, for products designed to return income, the distributions can also go down or up and you may not receive back the full value of your initial investment. No guarantee or representation is made that the funds will achieve their investment objective. The material on this site does not constitute legal, tax, or advice on investments. If you are unsure about whether a fund meets your requirements, then you should seek professional financial advice before investing.
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All investments risk the loss of capital. The value of investments may go down as well as up and, for products designed to return income, the distributions can also go down or up and you may not receive back the full value of your initial investment. No guarantee or representation is made that the funds will achieve their investment objective. The material on this site does not constitute legal, tax, or advice on investments. If you are unsure about whether a fund meets your requirements, then you should seek professional financial advice before investing.
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All investments risk the loss of capital. The value of investments may go down as well as up and, for products designed to return income, the distributions can also go down or up and you may not receive back the full value of your initial investment. No guarantee or representation is made that the funds will achieve their investment objective. The material on this site does not constitute legal, tax, or advice on investments. If you are unsure about whether a fund meets your requirements, then you should seek professional financial advice before investing.
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All investments risk the loss of capital. The value of investments may go down as well as up and, for products designed to return income, the distributions can also go down or up and you may not receive back the full value of your initial investment. No guarantee or representation is made that the funds will achieve their investment objective. The material on this site does not constitute legal, tax, or advice on investments. If you are unsure about whether a fund meets your requirements, then you should seek professional financial advice before investing.
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1. According to Art. 10 Para. 3 of the Swiss Federal Collective Investment Schemes Act (CISA), Qualified investors are considered:
a. Regulated financial intermediaries such as banks, securities dealers, fund management companies as well as asset managers of collective investment schemes,
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d. Companies with professional treasury departments;
e. High net worth individuals,
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2. According to Art. 6 Para. 2 of the Swiss Federal Collective Investment Schemes Ordinance (CISO), in particular Art. 10 Para. 4 CISA, qualified investors are also considered:
Independent asset managers and investors who have entered into a written asset management. agreement with independent asset managers to the extent that:
a. The asset manager as a financial intermediary is subject to the Money Laundering Act (MLA) of 10 October 1997 (Art. 2 Para. 3 lit. e MLA);
b. The asset manager is subject to a professional code of conduct which is recognized as a minimum standard by the supervisory authority, and
c. The asset management contract contains the recognized guidelines of a professional organization.
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* Direct investments in real estate and claims from social insurances (including claims from the 2. and 3. Pillar), are not considered financial investments.
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All investments risk the loss of capital. The value of investments may go down as well as up and, for products designed to return income, the distributions can also go down or up and you may not receive back the full value of your initial investment. No guarantee or representation is made that the funds will achieve their investment objective. The material on this site does not constitute legal, tax, or advice on investments. If you are unsure about whether a fund meets your requirements, then you should seek professional financial advice before investing.
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All investments risk the loss of capital. The value of investments may go down as well as up and, for products designed to return income, the distributions can also go down or up and you may not receive back the full value of your initial investment. No guarantee or representation is made that the funds will achieve their investment objective. The material on this site does not constitute legal, tax, or advice on investments. If you are unsure about whether a fund meets your requirements, then you should seek professional financial advice before investing. This information is not directed at any US person or any person in the US and the information does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell shares or units in any Stonehage Fleming fund to any US person or to any person in the US.
The following pages contain information on collective investment schemes (both local and foreign) that have been approved by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) for distribution in South Africa, in accordance with the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act, No 45 of 2002 (“CISCA”). The information and materials have been prepared for information purposes only and do not constitute a personal recommendation or advice or a solicitation to buy any product or service. They do not take into account the financial circumstances, needs or objectives of the recipient. In addition to the information provided, you may wish to consult an independent professional adviser.
All investments risk the loss of capital. The value of investments may go down as well as up and, for products designed to return income, the distributions can also go down or up and you may not receive back the full value of your initial investment. No guarantee or representation is made that the funds will achieve their investment objective. The material on this site does not constitute legal, tax, or advice on investments. If you are unsure about whether a fund meets your requirements, then you should seek professional financial advice before investing.
I confirm I am accessing the website from the country indicated.
All investments risk the loss of capital. The value of investments may go down as well as up and, for products designed to return income, the distributions can also go down or up and you may not receive back the full value of your initial investment. No guarantee or representation is made that the funds will achieve their investment objective. The material on this site does not constitute legal, tax, or advice on investments. If you are unsure about whether a fund meets your requirements, then you should seek professional financial advice before investing. This information is not directed at any US person or any person in the US and the information does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell shares or units in any Stonehage Fleming fund to any US person or to any person in the US.
The following pages contain information on collective investment schemes (both local and foreign) that have been approved by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) for distribution in South Africa, in accordance with the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act, No 45 of 2002 (“CISCA”). The information and materials have been prepared for information purposes only and do not constitute a personal recommendation or advice or a solicitation to buy any product or service. They do not take into account the financial circumstances, needs or objectives of the recipient. In addition to the information provided, you may wish to consult an independent professional adviser.
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All investments risk the loss of capital. The value of investments may go down as well as up and, for products designed to return income, the distributions can also go down or up and you may not receive back the full value of your initial investment. No guarantee or representation is made that the funds will achieve their investment objective. The material on this site does not constitute legal, tax, or advice on investments. If you are unsure about whether a fund meets your requirements, then you should seek professional financial advice before investing.
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