Our Investment Strategies

Nova has three core strategies based around common themes of intensive asset management and operational added value:

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Portfolio Acquisitions
  • Existing private equity portfolios
  • Groups of non-core corporate subsidiaries
  • Single companies with multiple business activities
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Complex Single Company Acquisitions
  • Multi-jurisdiction operations (Europe, North America, Asia)
  • Businesses requiring significant strategic or operational change
  • ‘Hard to exit’ assets requiring imaginative investment theses and strategic input
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Portfolio Management Solutions
  • Strategic insight to enhance management of under-performing portfolios
  • Out-sourced exit management capabilities
  • Management of fund vehicles around niche strategies

Portfolio Acquisitions

  • Nova has a strong 20+ year track record of portfolio acquisitions from private equity and corporate sellers having acquired or invested in over 75 underlying companies.
  • Groups of non-core businesses divested by corporate owners can be driven by strategic re-positioning or liquidity events. The acquisitions provide a one-stop solution to reduce timescales or the risk of piece-meal sales.
  • Private equity portfolio scenarios include tail-end fund assets, restructuring funds or underperforming funds providing secondary exit solutions for managers and limited partners.
  • The team has transaction execution expertise and stream-lined due diligence which focuses on the major portfolio value drivers.

Complex Single Company Acquisitions

  • A natural evolution from Nova’s portfolio acquisition strategies focusing on complex businesses or transactions where the team’s operational skills can help make a significant difference.
  • Potential investment targets can be privately owned corporates with a complex structure or investment thesis proposition, non-core subsidiaries in larger corporate groups or ‘hard to exit’ investments in private equity funds.
  • Intricacies can include international or sector diversity, challenging business models or value creation strategies, need for significant operational or management re-structuring, or ‘broken auctions’.

Portfolio Management Solutions

  • Nova has a long history of providing portfolio management solutions to investors in private equity funds. These have ranged from outsourcing of exit management, establishing partnerships with existing managers to LP-led appointment of incumbent GP services.
  • The team is able to bring operational expertise, improved corporate governance and stronger exit focus to ‘tired’ or under-performing assets.
  • Nova works with investors and other counterparties to identify, invest in and manage niche strategies, where the firm’s investing and operating expertise offers a particular edge.
  • Nova has formed a strategic relationship with US-based Kirchner Group. Kirchner’s portfolio optimisation strategy has been successfully applied to a number of portfolios in North America in recent years.