Public markets have recovered from the lows in March following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The same, however, can’t be said about the private equity funds. A private equity fund is a collective investment scheme that invests in equities. Such funds are usually managed by a firm or a limited liability partnership, and are not open to every individual for the subscription. Institutional investors are the primary participants in the private equity fund or PE fund. Even though 2020 hasn’t been a good year for PE funds, some funds did manage to make heavy returns for investors. If you plan to invest in them, discussed in the article are the top ten performing private equity funds in 2020.
Q3 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
Top ten performing private equity funds in 2020
This list of the top private equity funds is based on the performance from Dec. 31, 2019 to June 30, 2020. Following are the top performing private equity funds in 2020:
-
Morgan Stanley US Growth (64.2%)
This fund was launched in August 1992 and has $6.3 billion of assets under management. The objective of the fund is long-term capital appreciation and it invests mainly in growth-oriented common stocks of large cap U.S. companies, and to some extent invests in foreign companies as well. The top holdings of the funds include Zoom Video, Shopify, Amazon, Square and more.
-
Matthews China Small Companies (63.2%)
This fund has an inception date of May 2011 with assets under management of $329.54 million. Long-term capital appreciation is the objective of the fund. Under normal times, the fund makes efforts to hit its objective by investing a minimum of 80% of its net assets in the “common and preferred stocks of Small Companies located in China.” Gross expense ratio of the fund is 1.62%.
-
LF Ruffer Gold (56%)
The launch date of the fund was October 2003, while its objective is to ensure capital growth by investing in gold and precious metal companies operating in the mining sector. Top holdings of the fund include Centerra Gold, Endeavour Mining Corp, IAMGOLD Corp, Ramelius Resources Ltd, Kinross Gold Corp, Westgold Resources Ltd, Perseus Mining Ltd, OceanaGold Corp and more.
-
Baillie Gifford American (54%)
The launch date of the fund was July 1997, while its objective is to outperform the S&P 500 Index by a minimum of 1.5% per annum over rolling five-year periods. Top holdings of the fund include Tesla, Shopify, Amazon.com, Wayfair, The Trade Desk, Zoom Video Communications, Netflix, Alphabet, Chegg and Roku.
-
Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth (47%)
The launch date of the fund was April 2017, while its objective is to outperform the FTSE All World Index by a minimum of 2.5% per annum over rolling five-year periods. The top ten holdings of the fund are Tesla, Amazon.com, Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan Dianping, Illumina, Facebook, Kering, Pinduoduo and Netflix. It has invested more than 50% of its assets in North America.
-
Morgan Stanley US Advantage (41.6%)
This fund has a launch date of Sept. 2016, while its assets under management are GBP 1.1 billion. The objective of the fund is to grow the investment over a period of 3 to 5 years. Top holdings of the fund include Square, Amazon.com, Shopify, Twilio, Okta, Veeva Systems Class A, Spotify Technology S.A., Intuitive Surgical, Twitter and Facebook.
-
New Capital US Future Leaders (37.3%)
The inception date of the fund was Aug. 2018 and total assets under management are $245 million. This fund invests in the equities of U.S. companies listed on the recognized stock exchange. Top ten holdings of the fund are Shopify, Blackstone Group, Amazon.com, Atlassian Corp, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Lululemon Athletica, IDEXX Laboratories, Square, Match Group and Exact Sciences Corp.
-
MFM Junior Gold (36.4%)
This fund has an inception date of Sept. 2009 and its total assets under management are GBP 14.937 million. It invests in small to medium cap companies engaged in identifying, developing and extracting mineral resources. The top holdings of the funds are Caldas Gold, Aurcana Silver, Cabral Gold, Gascoyne Resources, New Found Gold and Roscan Gold Corp.
-
Baillie Gifford Global Discovery (35.9%)
The launch date of the fund was May 2011, while its objective is to outperform the S&P Global Small Cap Index by a minimum of 2% annually over rolling five-year periods. Top ten holdings of the fund are Tesla, Ocado, MarketAxess, Chegg, Zillow, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Teladoc, STAAR Surgical, Novocure and BlackLine. More than 50% of its investment is in Healthcare and IT combined.
-
ES Gold and Precious Metals (34.7%)
The inception date of the fund was July 2014 and its total assets under management are GBP 3.191 million. The objective of the fund is capital appreciation by investing in equity securities with exposure in gold or precious metals. Top holdings of the fund are Newmont, Endeavour Mining, Kirkland Lake Gold, Coeur Mining, Kinross Gold, Pan American Silver, Centerra Gold, AngloGold Ashanti, SSR Mining and Harmony Gold Mining.
