In the first nine months of the financial year, the fair value per share decreased from EUR 40.95 as of April 1, 2003 to EUR 33.85 as of December 31, 2003.
Total investments (long-term assets) contracted from EUR 181.5 million (April 1, 2003) to EUR 153.2 million (December 31, 2003). The main reasons contributing to this were currency effects and value adjustments on certain portfolio investments.
Total commitments declined during the reporting period from EUR 274.9 million as of April 1, 2003 to EUR 239.3 million as of December 31, 2003. Outstanding commitments are down to EUR 18.8 million after successful negotiations of commitment reductions and the sale of a portion of a portfolio fund.
The reporting period closed with a consolidated net loss of EUR 5.5 million, compared to a net loss of EUR 83.3 million in the corresponding period of the previous year. In the 9-month reporting period write-downs of EUR 26.6 million were recorded in the income statement.
CSFB Transaction
The transfer of all the funds included in the CSFB transaction with the exception of Halder IV has been completed. We expect the final closing of the transaction by the end of February 2004.
As a result of the advanced status of the transaction, the positions "securities available for sale" under current assets and "short-term borrowings" have decreased to EUR 8.8 million and EUR 20.4 million, respectively. Both of these positions will be completely eliminated from the balance sheet once the last remaining fund is transferred.
Outlook
Our outlook for the future remains optimistic based on the current positive developments in the private equity markets worldwide. We are confident that the stabilization of the fair value and good future financial results will rebuild investor confidence and manifest itself in an upward movement of our share price in the coming year, thereby further diminishing the discount to fair value.
We continue to place emphasis on the proactive reduction of outstanding commitments and will negotiate further opportunities in this respect. Follow-on investment opportunities are carefully evaluated with the goal of maximizing returns on our direct portfolio. With the liquidity constraints continually improving, new primary and secondary investment opportunities are also reviewed.
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The complete Nine-Month Report as of December 31, 2003 is available on our website at www.peh.ch from January 29, 2004.
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Private Equity Holding AG (SWX: PEHN), managed by Swiss Life Private Equity Partners, offers investors the opportunity to invest, within a simple legal and tax optimized structure, in a broadly diversified and professionally managed private equity portfolio. For further information: www.peh.ch or Tamara Krebs, Investor Relations and Communications (phone +41 41 726 79 80).
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