Gresham House's Wotton: Now is the time for a 'private equity approach to public markets'

Active dialogue with the board

A “private equity approach to public markets” is primed to succeed post-pandemic, argued Ken Wotton of Gresham House, citing his £220.6m Strategic Equity Capital trust (SEC) as “a real pure play” towards the goal.

SEC, which invests predominately in publicly-quoted UK small caps, has only 18 holdings, with the majority of the portfolio in just seven. As the trust typically targets smaller companies, Wotton said it means it often holds "five-to-ten percent equity stakes, which means we are one of, if not the largest external investor in the company".   This provides it with "enough stakes to have some influence," he added.  As an example, the fund manager pointed to Inspired Energy, which was first invested in by Gresham's VCT fund. Since listing, the SEC has recently become the company's ...