EANS-Adhoc: shaPE Capital AG - Year-end results 2008
ad-hoc disclosure transmitted by euro adhoc with the aim of a Europe-wide distribution. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
annual report
27.04.2009
Most challenging year since inception leaves its marks in NAV and share price The disruptions in financial markets have left their clear marks in the 2008 financial results of shaPE. The gross loss on the private equity portfolio amounted to 76.6 million Swiss francs, compared to a gross income of 50.3 million Swiss francs in 2007. The audited NAV per share was 192.94 Swiss francs, representing a decrease of 31.9 percent versus beginning of the year and the first year-over-year drop since 2003. After a continuous increase over the past five years, the share price dropped by 86.1 percent during 2008. This disappointing performance compares to a negative performance of -64.3 percent for the listed private equity sector as a whole as measured by the LPX50 TR Index (in Euro terms). The share price of 38.00 Swiss francs as of December 31, 2008 represents a discount of 80.3 percent to the audited NAV.
shaPE takes decisive action
shaPE has taken several steps in order to meet the challenges, including:
- reduced commitment activity as of beginning of 2008 by reducing average commitment size and restriction to most promising new fund raisings of existing relationships
- sale of limited partnership interests in order to generate liquidity and reduce unfunded commitments
- share buyback program in order to concentrate NAV
Furthermore, as recently announced, the investment manager of shaPE, Horizon21 Private Equity (Cayman) Ltd., has offered to waive half of the management fees payable for the financial year 2009 in order to support the company during these challenging times.
Sound portfolio and improved liquidity situation
shaPE continues to build on its solid mid-market buyout focused private equity portfolio, which is well diversified across geographies, investment stages and vintage years. Although further devaluations cannot be ruled out in the present recessionary environment, shaPE expects to be less exposed due to a comparably low allocation towards large buyout funds, especially from the more expensive vintage years 2006/2007, which make up only 4 percent of overall commitments. Finally, after the recently announced sale of 15 partnership interests, which will significantly improve the liquidity situation while leaving the character of the portfolio untouched, shaPE feels well positioned to weather a challenging but also promising investment environment 2009.
The full annual report 2008 is available on www.shape-capital.com.
end of announcement euro adhoc
Further inquiry note:
Dr. Simon Lamprecht
shaPE Capital AG
Poststrasse 4
8808 Pfäffikon SZ
Tel: +41/55/415'28'20
E-Mail: simon.lamprecht@horizon21.com
Internet: www.shape-capital.com
Branche: Financial & Business Services
ISIN: CH0012885841
WKN: 765355
Börsen: SWX Swiss Exchange / official dealing