Listed private equity: A strategic opportunity

The sharp escalation in global trade tensions in 2025 has seen investment flows disrupted, merger and acquisition activity has slowed, and many institutional investors are reassessing their allocations amid rising capital costs and heightened geopolitical risk.

- Bob Liu, portfolio manager, Barwon Investment Partners

While this level of macroeconomic noise tends to obscure fundamentals, it also created an opportunity to reassess where true value resides. Listed private equity is one of the few segments of the market that currently offers both resilience and a compelling margin of safety.

As with any form of private-markets exposure, questions arise during volatile periods around valuation transparency and liquidity. But listed private equity offers a unique combination: access to portfolios of high-quality private market investments including private equity, private credit, and alternative asset managers - delivered through vehicles that are traded daily on public exchanges.

That structure gives investors the ability to see pricing in real time and to enter or exit positions with flexibility. Importantly, it also provides a direct view into how markets are pricing risk and where dislocations may offer attractive entry points.