Thank you, and good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining Apax Global Alpha's Q3 Results Presentation. My name is Salim Nathoo, and I'm a partner at Apax, and a member of the investment committees for Apax Global Alpha, as well as the Global Buyout Funds, the Apax Digital Fund, and Apax Global Impact. I look forward to taking you through the presentation, and I will answer any questions you may have at the end of the call. As a reminder, and for those of you who are new to the company, AGA provides access to a global portfolio of mostly private companies owned by the Apax private equity firms, which shareholders can't buy elsewhere. AGA's total NAV return was flat in the quarter, with performance from the debt portfolio helping to offset relatively small declines in private equity that were largely driven by multiple compression in the public holdings, in the Private Equity Portfolio in the quarter. At 30th of September 2023, adjusted NAV per share was EUR 2.57 or GBP 2.23 per share. Turning to investment activity, the bid-ask spread around between buyers and sellers is narrowing, and we are seeing a strong uptick in the quality of the new investment pipeline. There were two new investments in the quarter, with a further five post-period end. The Apax funds also exited two investments in the period at an average uplift of 11%. The debt portfolio continued to perform well in the period, achieving a total return of 5.6% in Q3. As many of you will know, the company has a policy to pay out 5% of NAV per annum, and including the EUR 32.8 million paid in the quarter in relation with the interim dividend, AGA has returned more than EUR 300 million to shareholders in the last five years. Now, before I go into the portfolio in more detail, let me just pause and talk a little bit about the industry backdrop. The global economy remains sluggish and uncertain, with slow and uneven growth, and the private equity industry environment has remained challenging, with lower M&A activity, more difficult paths to exit, and tightening capital structures. Against this backdrop, we believe that AGA is well-positioned, both thanks to Apax's discipline of decisions made in the good times and the ability of the Hidden Gems investment strategy to capitalize on increasingly attractive new investment opportunities. The general PE industry has shown a high degree of pro-cyclicality over the last few years. Indeed, we saw the same thing at the time of the global financial crisis. The industry put out the most money at the peak, and the same thing happened again during 2021. Capital structures are becoming tighter. Obviously, capital structures were very pushed in the good times, both because companies could bear more debt at these lower interest rates, but also because lenders got very accepting of very heavy pro forma adjustments. As interest rates go up, those structures are getting more stressed. Finally, around exits, you will have seen that exit paths have been more difficult over the last year across the industry, and exits have slowed. Now, how well-positioned firms are to navigate this change is a function of the decisions made in the good times and the ability to create value from here, both in the existing portfolio and in capitalizing on attractively priced new investments. So what does this industry backdrop mean for AGA? Starting with the decisions made in the good times. In private equity, Apax remained focused on building portfolios diversified not only by sector and geography, but also by financial profile and vintage year. Typically, the Apax funds were invested over three to four years and only grew modestly in size rather than in step changes, meaning that the Apax funds did not put out the same relative amount of capital at the top of the market as many firms. Through the good times, we were consistent with our Hidden Gems investment strategy, investing in businesses with strong underlying economic motors, but with the ability to better withstand valuation and macro shocks due to buying at discounted entry multiples relative to peers, and having a wide range of available micro business improvement levers to grow earnings significantly. I would emphasize that the Hidden Gems strategy is an all-weather investment strategy focused on generating alpha through operational impact, and it does not rely on tailwinds from financial markets. In terms of capital structures, entry leverage across the last generations of buyout funds was modest, and average leverage levels across Apax - AGA's private equity portfolio companies was 4.5 x at the end of September 2023. More recently, over the summer, we have also seen debt markets be more supportive, and we continue to be able to raise debt for new deals. In terms of realizations, exits were prioritized in the good times, with the Apax funds being net distributors of capital from 2019 to 2022. While we expect exit volumes to remain low, we have some exit opportunities in the pipeline, and we saw two full exits in the quarter. Next, and turning to the current portfolio and our ability to create value. On this page, you can see AGA's invested portfolio as of 30th September 2023. AGA was 90% invested, split 74% into private equity, 25% in debt investments, and with the remaining 1% invested across three derived equity positions. The pie chart on the left-hand side of the slide shows the breakdown of AGA's portfolio by asset class as well as sectors. You can also see the top 10 private equity holdings in the pie chart, and a list of the top 30 holdings can be found in the appendix. As I mentioned earlier, AGA's private equity portfolio is also well diversified across fund vintages, reducing the risk of multiple concentration, and our valuation approach is transparent, using comparable multiples with AGA's portfolio multiples, reflecting movements in public markets or transaction comps, not discounted cash flow or other approaches. Turning next to the next page and the LTM private equity performance bridge to 30th of September 2023. You can see how this approach, focused on operational value creation, is the driver of performance. LTM EBITDA growth was 16.4% across the portfolio companies, compared to 14.1% at the end of June. While organic EBITDA growth continued to be robust, the quarterly increase in growth rate was largely driven by M&A, notably EcoOnline's acquisition of Ecometrica and Ole Smoky's acquisition of Tanteo. While overall private equity performance was resilient in the last twelve months, there was some weakness coming primarily from Apax IX's publicly listed holdings and mainly from Thoughtworks and Paycor. Downward volatility from Thoughtworks and Viasat in Q3 also impacted quarterly performance. Reflecting these public market movements, valuation multiples came down from 17.2x to 16.3x year-over-year. As you can see, performance was also heavily impacted by FX movement, predominantly reflecting the USD movements against the euro over the last twelve months. Against a backdrop of tightening capital structures, we take comfort from having a portfolio with moderate levels of leverage across portfolio companies and an in-house capital markets team actively monitoring and managing capital structures. We, of course, remain vigilant given the ongoing volatility in demand, and we're closely monitoring to detect early warning signs, particularly in those companies where inflation pass-through occurs with a significant lag. Our capital markets team sought to actively refinance portfolio companies when the cost of debt was cheap, and 83% of portfolio companies have maturities extending beyond 2027, with roughly 72% of the debt outstanding held at a fixed rate through hedges or through fixed rate instruments, and over half of debt fixed or hedged through the beginning of 2025. As I mentioned at the start of this presentation, part of navigating this challenging economic backdrop is centered around capitalizing on attractively priced new investments. As you can tell from this page, we are seeing a strong uptick in the quality of the new investment pipeline, with two new investments in Q3 and a further five post-quarter end. Of note, two of these more recent deals have been carve-outs, highlighting the Apax fund strategy of mining the Hidden Gems. Not buying the polished asset, but rather seeking opportunities to invest in businesses with good underlying economic moats and with several improvement levers available, which carve-outs generally provide. Starting with the investments in the quarter, Apax XI agreed to acquire a significant minority stake in IBS Software, a leading provider of modern software solutions to the global travel and logistics industry. The investment thesis to back IBS Software on its growth journey as it continues to win market share across core products, including cargo, loyalty, and flight operations, with significant room for growth as the industry is in the early phases of modern software penetration. AMI II, the Israel Mid-Market Fund, also acquired a controlling stake in Chavat Daat in the period. This is Israel's largest independent specialty vet hospital. Since the quarter ended, Apax XI has signed a further four investments, and Apax Global Impact has made one new investment. Starting with Palex Medical, this is a distributor of medical technology equipment and solutions in Southern Europe. The Apax subsector teams, in partnership with Apax's operational excellence practice, will help accelerate growth by leveraging several organic levers, including product and geographic expansion, as well as operational professionalization.... Large part of the investment thesis is also focused on M&A, with the company being one of the few European medtech distribution players with a meaningful M&A strategy in place. In October, Apax XI agreed to acquire Bazooka Candy Brands, a portfolio of non-chocolate confectionery brands headquartered in New York. The Apax Funds Internet consumer team has spent significant time exploring opportunities in the confectionery sector and have tracked Bazooka since 2016. The acquisition fits squarely in the team's focus on investment in well-positioned consumer packaged goods brands, where the team can leverage existing playbooks to enhance distribution growth, geographic expansion, digital development, product innovation, and add-on acquisitions. Apax XI also agreed to acquire WGSN, a leading consumer trend forecaster from publicly listed Ascential in a carve-out transaction. Apax has a long history with WGSN's parent company, Ascential, with the funds having acquired Ascential in 2008 as part of the acquisition of EMAP PLC. Working closely with the operational excellence practice, the Internet consumer team intends to leverage several organic growth levers, including improving product packaging and pricing strategies to grow the business. There is also an opportunity to expand into new products, verticals, and consumer bases through M&A. Finally, Apax XI reached an agreement with the board of Kin + Carta on the recommended cash offer of its entire share capital. Kin and Carta is a global digital transformation consultancy, the first company listed on the London Stock Exchange to achieve B Corp certification. Drawing on the team's track record in next generation IT services, Apax identified Kin and Carta as a high-quality business with a strong platform in the digital transformation sector. In October, Apax Global Impact also closed its fourth investment and thereby its second standalone deal by acquiring a controlling stake in Gan Integrity. Gan is a provider of third-party software and employee-centric ethics and compliance software, enabling good governance for the benefit of employees, stakeholders, and society. The team was attracted by the company's strong value proposition and its differentiated product offering. The team has identified multiple levers of growth in the near term, including M&A opportunities to leverage Gan as a platform. On the realization front, after a record year of realizations for the Apax Funds in 2022 and a strong first quarter of 2023, exits have continued to slow in recent quarters. Nevertheless, there were two exits in the quarter at an average uplift of 11% to unaffected valuations and delivering an average gross MOIC of 1.8x. AMI sold Go Global Travel, a B2B travel and technology service provider, delivering a gross MOIC of 2.8x. Also in the period, Apax IX sold its entire shareholding in Manappuram Finance Limited, a non-bank finance company that focuses primarily on retail loans to customers with limited access to bank credit in India. From the initial investment till March 2021, the company reported strong growth on both top line and bottom line. However, the business and share price came under pressure in the year to March 2022, mainly due to regulatory actions that favored banks, and the deal overall delivered a gross MOIC of 1.1x. Apax IX also reduced its position in Genius Sports, selling 23 million shares at a net price of $5.35, which brings total realized money multiple to 2x for Genius Sports. Moving now to the debt portfolio. As a reminder, the debt portfolio absorbs excess liquidity, not invested in private equity, thereby limiting cash drag, producing additional returns, and generating income, which is an additional source of funding towards the dividend payment. It enhances the robustness of AGA's balance sheet and provides comfort when assessing new commitments. The debt portfolio delivered a total return of 3.4% in the twelve months to 30th September 2023. Like for private equity, returns were impacted by U.S. dollar movements against the euro over the last twelve months, and on a constant currency basis, LTM total return was 10.7%. Over the last five years, the debt portfolio has achieved a 42.3% cumulative constant currency total return, representing an outperformance compared to the S&P LSTA Leveraged Loan Index, which delivered 24.4% for the same five-year period. As at 30th September 2023, the debt portfolio had an average yield to maturity of 12.1%, and the portfolio generated an income yield of 10.3%. Before we go into Q&A, let me summarize a couple of key takeaways. Against the continued uncertain market backdrop, the portfolio is generally in good shape, and we take comfort from the decisions we made in the good times. We are seeing an uptick in new investments with five new investments post-quarter end. And we believe that Apax's Hidden Gems Strategy is the right approach for this investment environment, and that AGA's portfolio is well diversified across sectors, geographies, and fund vintages, underpinned by a disciplined approach to balance sheet management, and with the debt portfolio generating additional returns and providing liquidity. Over the last five years, AGA has delivered total annualized return of 12% and returned over EUR 300 million in dividends to shareholders. And with that, I'm now happy to answer any questions, and back to you, operator. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. That's star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star followed by two, and please also remember to unmute your microphone when it's your turn to speak. Okay, we do have our first question. It is a written question, comes from Fiona Huang from Jefferies, and it reads: The current market condition is difficult, but it doesn't seem like you have any challenges finding new investment opportunities. Could you tell us how these opportunities come about? Sure. So I think this is a reflection of our Hidden Gems Strategy, where we're not looking to buy great companies at very high prices. So we're seeing three sorts of opportunities. One are carve-outs from corporates, where because conditions are difficult, they want to dispose of non-core subsidiaries, and they're willing to do that at attractive prices, and some of our best deals, indeed, have been carve-outs. So Bazooka Candy and WGSN would fit into that category. The second category are public to privates, where boards are now saying, "I think if you can get a decent premium, then take the offer." So Kin and Carta is an example of that. And the third are sponsor sales, where the sponsor has been in the investment a long time or has a real need to generate liquidity for its investors. And I would say, IBS Software and Palex Medical fit into that category. So I think this is testament to our investment strategy, and I think it's those three buckets of opportunities that are providing opportunity. Thank you. Our next question comes from Mark Adrian Thomas, from Hardman & Co. It reads: The number of new investments has accelerated dramatically recently, recently, with five new investments since the period and against two in the whole previous quarter. I have three related questions. Can you give more color on why this has happened now, the extent to which it related to the debt markets being more supportive, and what and to what degree do you see, do you see it as the start of a new trend? Yeah, I guess it relates to the last question. So why now? I think what's happened is if we go to the three buckets, because share prices have been low for public companies for now a period of time, that has made public boards more constructive to look at both P2Ps and carve-outs. And on the private side, again, it's very difficult to exit, and some GPs are under real pressure to generate liquidity. And so they would rather generate some liquidity today by selling at a reasonable price, than hoping or waiting for a sort of better times. Now, on the sponsor side, I would say that's idiosyncratic. That is not a general trend. There's still a lot of companies out there which were invested in 2020, 2021 at very high prices that sponsors can't sell because they won't generate an attractive enough return given the current market environment. On the debt side, yes, it's become slightly more constructive, but I wouldn't say that's the catalyst. We've never had a problem financing our deals. And remember, we're not doing generally the mega deals, and we don't employ a huge amount of leverage. As I said, our portfolio is levered at 4.5x. So, yes, that's been a little bit of a tailwind, but not the real reason. It's more the attitude of sellers and our strategy, I think, that are enabling the opportunity. Thank you. Our next question comes from Yusuf Samad from Belfield Capital. First question reads: The income from derived debt portfolio was EUR 9.3 million. Is the portfolio generating enough cash to income to cover distributions? Second question reads: Can you please provide more information on the EUR 29.8 million loss in the private equity portfolio? Which type of company sectors contribute to this loss? Are the companies generating operating profits? Yes. So on the first question, the current debt portfolio generates EUR 35 million a year, which supports the dividend. However, this is a balance funded from private equity distributions and income from the debt investments. And as AGA is based in Guernsey, the dividend isn't subject to an income test, but instead a cash flow test. So the debt investments help fund the dividend, but we're not trying to match it one for one. The second question was on which companies contributed to the private equity downturn? As I said, this was mainly public holdings. And in particular, ThoughtWorks, which was a large position. To remind everyone, this is a tech services company. It has performed extremely well under our ownership. We took it public. We've already cashed out 4x on the deal, but it's really suffered in the public markets. The result of that is because of weak demand as a result of the macro. It is highly profitable, but it's at a tough point in the cycle, and we see significant upside from here. So we're under no pressure to sell. And as I said, it has already realized 4x, so a good investment. But the share price has come down, which is affected... Which was the main driver of the loss. Thank you. Our next question comes from Conor Finn from Barclays. In the debt portfolio, are all assets performing? Are there any material credit issues? So generally, the debt portfolio is performing very well, as you can see from the performance. The main challenges are PSSI and Vyaire. PSSI had some issues with its workforce, but we believe these are now being addressed. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. That's star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star followed by two, and please also remember to unmute your microphone if it's your turn to speak. Our next question is also a written question, comes from business analyst, Tim Vernon, and it says: You said the portfolio is generally in good shape. What are the areas in which you are concerned, and what are the scale of these concerns? Yeah. So, overall, as I mentioned, earnings are growing strongly. LTM EBITDA growth was 16%, and organic EBITDA growth is still robust. So that's the backdrop. Where is the softness? I think we are seeing it in tech services. I alluded to ThoughtWorks, but generally, I think we're seeing large corporates being tighter with budgets on IT spend and delaying projects. So that's probably the area where we've seen the biggest macro impact. And then in healthcare services, we have seen a period of very high wage inflation, particularly in 2022. It's eased a bit in 2023, with prices not keeping up with that wage inflation. So in particular in the United States, with Eating Recovery Center and, InnovAge, that's hit the business. And also that high wage inflation, high turnover, employee turnover environment has led to some challenges managing the business. So the companies are working through that, but that that's probably an area and a pocket of weakness as well. But as I mentioned, overall the portfolio is robust and resilient. Thank you. We currently have no further questions, so I will hand back to you, Salim, for closing remarks. Over to you. Great. Well, thank you for joining today's call, and if you have any further questions or would like to arrange a meeting, please contact the investor relations team. And, goodbye.
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