Patria Private Equity Trust — An attractive route to the PE mid-market

Patria Private Equity Trust (formerly known as abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust) allows investors to gain exposure to a gradually rebounding private equity (PE) market via a trust active in the attractive mid-market (primarily in Europe), which has delivered strong five- and 10-year annualised NAV total returns of 15.3% and 15.0% pa, respectively. This is well ahead of the return of public European small caps and above the average return for close listed PE peers. Despite the c 27% share price re-rating since the beginning of 2024, supported by PPET’s buyback programme, the trust’s shares are now available at a 27% discount to NAV. This is much wider than the narrow discounts at which PE assets currently trade in the global secondary markets, despite PPET’s recent successful secondary sale of older-vintage and non-core assets and the average 25% uplift to carrying value two quarters prior at which its portfolio exits were executed over the last five years (including an average 26% uplift in FY24).