SVG Capital, the listed private equity firm that invests a majority of its funds in Permira, has announced that director and chief executive Andrew Williams will shortly be leaving the firm by “mutual agreement”. Pending the appointment of his successor, Nicholas Ferguson, the current chairman of the firm, will become executive.
“On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Andrew for the major contribution he has made to the company over the last 13 years,” says Ferguson. “Under his stewardship SVG Advisers has grown into a leading private equity investor and fund management business, with third-party funds and commitments of €4.2bn.”
Before joining SVG, Williams was managing director of Schroder Ventures. Prior to this, he worked at Schroders, including a period as co-head of equity capital markets and for four years in Japan where he was head of corporate finance. He was also head of the Schroders Securities Asian division. Andrew is a non-executive director of both CDC Group and of Macquarie Bank International.
SVG is to conduct a strategic review of the business in light of the troubles it faced last year. In the 12 months to December 2008, NAV per share declined to 348.1p, a reduction of 64.3%. Assets and commitments under management decreased in the period to €4.2 billion from €4.4 billion at December 2007.
“Portfolio company valuations have been materially reduced by continued falling public market comparable earnings multiples and share prices,” says Ferguson. “In the second half we started to see a decline in portfolio companies’ operating performance as the economic conditions took an even stronger hold. In the near term, conditions remain challenging but we are confident our current portfolio consists of high quality businesses, with good growth potential over the longer term.”
D.C.