Eurazeo's NAV dips amid volatile markets

Min Ho
28 July 2022

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Listed French sponsor Eurazeo has created a contingency buffer of EUR 500m to account for volatile market uncertainties, leading to a dip in the group’s net asset value, according to its half-year report.

Over the first six months of 2022, the value of the investment portfolio excluding asset management activity dropped by 3.9% to EUR 8.6bn, equivalent to EUR 89.6 per share, according to the report.

"It's about being a bit more conservative so that we are protecting the months to come," said CEO Virginie Morgon in a results call on the buffer. "We want to publish good results and overperform and not oversell."

"We are hoping that by March next year, when we publish our next net asset value, we will not disappoint the market and we will have sufficient runway in the portfolio and some contingency buffer to continue our path of growth for our net asset value," she added.

Further leading to the dip in NAV was a 25% haircut in valuations for some of its companies for its growth portfolio to reflect the drop in relevant indexes such as the Nasdaq, said William Kadouch-Chassaing, Eurazeo's general manager finance and strategy.

But recent strong exits, including the divestment of power producer Reden Solar, the strengthening of the dollar for its US assets, and strong valuation of some portfolio companies such as Contentsquare, have softened the dip in the group's NAV figures, Morgon said.

Contentsquare, a French digital experience analytics company, closed a USD 600m growth investment round earlier this month, valuing the company at USD 5.6bn

Meanwhile, Eurazeo sold its 47% stake in Reden Solar to a Macquarie-led consortium in a deal valued at EUR 2.5bn in March, generating EUR 632m in cash proceeds for the French investment house.

Elsewhere, Eurazeo raised EUR 1.8bn in this first half of this year across all business lines, principally driven by its private equity strategies, such as the EUR 1bn close for its PME IV fund.

Fundraising activity dropped by around 26% versus H1 2021, when it raised EUR 2.4bn, according to the statement.

The Group had EUR 5.2bn in dry powder as of the end of H1 2022, it added.