“With the Evergreen Fund, lack of access to private markets is no longer a challenge for individual investors.”
“With the Evergreen Fund, lack of access to private markets is no longer a challenge for individual investors.”
Private equity is an alternative asset class that consists of capital that is not listed on a public exchange. A typical private equity investment generates returns through the acquisition, growth, and eventual sale of a privately-owned business. Private equity owners seek to add value through operational improvements, changes in the capital structure, and a focus on long-term growth rather than catering to short-term shareholders.
Private equity, as an asset class, has benefited from a number of factors, including a strong alignment of interests, a large universe of opportunities, a long-term time horizon for value creation and the ability to add value through operational improvements. Of course, the asset class is subject to risks, such as general economic uncertainty, market volatility, lack of liquidity, and loss of principal.
While private equity has continued to be an increasingly relevant component of the capital markets, the profile of public companies has changed dramatically over the last two decades. In 1996, there were more than 7,000 publicly listed companies on U.S. exchanges. Today, that number has decreased by nearly half, with fewer than 4,000 public companies. Today’s average public company is seven times larger and twice as old as its counterpart in 1996.1
The combination of an increasingly large opportunity set in the private markets – there are more than 200,000 private businesses in the middle market segment alone2 - and a decreasing opportunity set in the public markets has been a contributing factor to the increase in institutional asset allocations to private equity in recent years. It’s not uncommon for large pension plans and endowments to have allocations to private equity in excess of 10%, 15% and, in some cases, 20%.3
Wealthy families have also increased their allocation to private equity, with 88% of family offices intending to increase or maintain their allocations to private equity in the next five years.4
Source: Morgan Stanley Global Asset Management Research – September 2019. Information is subject to change and is not a guarantee of future results.
The Evergreen Private Markets Fund seeks to provide access to private investments to a broader group of investors. This short video explains the basics of private equity investing.
Widespread access to private equity has historically been limited. In fact, retail and high net worth investors have lagged significantly behind institutional investors in terms of private equity allocations. A study by the iCapital Network highlighted that while more than 2/3 of financial advisors stated that their clients were interested in private equity, less than 1/3 had a viable solution due to SEC regulation and high investment minimums that restricted access to all except the ultra-wealthy. These restrictions create a massive asset allocation gap between those who have access to private-equity and those who are not able to participate.
Bow River Capital created the Evergreen Fund to close the gap in access to private equity by offering a diversified, low-minimum private equity solution that is available to a broader group of investors.
1 World Bank Federation of Exchanges – December 2019, Jay Ritter Research –
University of Florida, March 2019
2 ACG Middle Market Report 2018, World Bank Global Market Cap – 2018
3 Morgan Stanley Global Asset Management Research – September 2019
4 UBS Family Office Report 2019
To help address individual investors lack of access to private equity, the Bow River team created the Bow River Capital Evergreen Fund. The Fund offers investors (1) institutional-quality private equity exposure; (2) broad investment exposure; and (3) an investor-friendly structure.
The Bow River team provides investment selection and portfolio management for the Evergreen Fund. The Bow River team has partnered with Aksia, a leading global private equity consulting firm that brings institutional-quality sourcing and research capabilities. The team focuses on sourcing investments that are typically offered only to institutional investors.
With the goal of providing long-term, stable returns, our team strives to maintain a portfolio that has exposure to a combination of growth-oriented private equity investments, yielding private credit instruments, and liquid securities. The Evergreen Fund will also invest alongside a diverse group of private equity managers, providing broad exposure to private companies in different geographies, industries, and size ranges.
Liquid assets such as listed private markets securities, liquid credit, and alternative strategies can improve the strategy's liquidity profile while providing growth potential and additional yield.
Private credit investments can provide an attractive yield with low correlation to public equities and other private market asset classes.
Private equity investments aim to maximize total return on a diversified basis through exposure to co-investments with multiple GPs and investments in funds on the secondary market.
To view the most recent portfolio allocation, please click here.
Bow River estimates. For illustrative purposes only. Final asset allocation may change. Asset allocation
may deviate during the initial build up phase.
Private equity funds typically have a high minimum investment, often $500,000 more. Further, investors are often required to commit their capital for at least seven years, making private equity funds an illiquid investment that are often out of reach for many investors. Bow River Capital’s Evergreen Fund is structured as an “interval fund” which combines many of the beneficial characteristics of a traditional mutual fund structure while making private investments, similar to a traditional private equity fund. In doing so, interval funds may remove some of the obstacles of private market investing for individual investors.
Drawing on decades of private equity investment and operations experience, the Bow River team consists of investment and operations professionals, working together to identify the most compelling investment opportunities for investors and ensuring that the fund meets all regulatory, operations and service requirements.
Founded in 2003, Bow River Capital is a Denver-based alternative asset manager with buyout private equity, real estate and software growth equity platforms. The firm has deep experience investing in private markets and creating value for business owners and investors, and deploys capital in diverse industries, asset classes and across the capital structure.
An offer can only be made by the prospectus and only in jurisdictions in which such an offer
would be lawful. The prospectus contains important information concerning risk factors and other
material aspects of the Fund to carefully consider, and must be read carefully before a decision to
invest is made.
Investing in the Fund involves risks, including the risk that shareholders may lose part or all of their
investment. Shareholders should consider carefully the principal risks before investing in the Fund. The
Fund is a newly organized, non-diversified, closed-end investment company with a limited operating
history. Shares will not be listed on any securities exchange. The Fund may be materially affected by
general economic and market conditions, including interest rates, inflation rates, economic uncertainty,
availability of credit, financial market volatility, changes in laws and national and international
political circumstances. The Fund offers only limited liquidity. Fund distributions may be funded from
offering proceeds or borrowings, which may constitute a return of capital and reduce the amount of
capital available to the Fund for investment. The Fund may borrow money, magnifying the potential for
gain or loss and increasing the risk of investing with the Fund. Please see the prospectus for details
of these and other risks.
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