How We Do It

HVPE provides a complete private markets solution for public investors by actively managing the Investment Portfolio through four key phases of the private equity cycle: Commitment, Investment, Growth, and Maturity. We seek to make sufficient future commitments to ensure continuous investment through the cycle. What does this mean? Please visit our Glossary page for more information.

HarbourVest, the Investment Manager, is an independent, global private markets investment specialist, with over 42 years of experience and more than $127 billion of assets under management as at 31 March 2024.

HVPE maintains a prudent approach to balance sheet management and invests within a set of defined financial ratios with the aim of ensuring that there is sufficient cash or credit available to meet its commitments, whilst also striving to avoid an excessive build-up of cash on the balance sheet.

HVPE takes a long-term view in building and maintaining its portfolio, working to a set of rolling five-year portfolio construction targets aimed at optimising long-term NAV growth. Please visit our Portfolio Diversification page for more information.

Research indicates that the variability of returns in private markets investing is greater than that typically observed in public equity portfolios¹. This is especially true for early stage venture, where HarbourVest observes that a small number of funds deliver returns dramatically in excess of the median². This means that diversification across multiple funds and investments is critically important for optimising risk-adjusted returns. By following its SAA targets, HVPE believes it has built a well-diversified portfolio.

_{[1] Cambridge Associates, “Building Winning Portfolios Through Private Investments”, 2021.}

_{[2] Research from HarbourVest Partners’ Quantitative Investment Science (QIS) team.}

HVPE provides effective exposure to approximately 30 individual HarbourVest fund managers, each expert in their particular strategy. Furthermore, within the HarbourVest fund of funds programmes, careful selection gives distinct exposure to many leading, or hard to access, external private equity managers, providing a broad spread of private markets expertise.

HVPE, in effect, provides part-ownership of a broad range of underlying private companies, spanning early stage to more mature businesses. It is the performance of these which drives returns. HVPE is committed to delivering material long-term outperformance in NAV per share as compared with public markets. Ultimately, this is achieved by strong realisations, the proceeds of which are then reinvested into new private markets opportunities.

HarbourVest Partners (the Investment Manager) is driven by the belief that strong financial returns and positive social change can be accomplished in tandem. As such, it is committed to integrating ESG considerations into all stages of its investment activity. ESG-related risks are identified and taken into consideration as an integral part of its due diligence process, so that company-specific, broader manager-level, sector-level, and regional risks can be considered when reviewing investment opportunities.