LPEQ, a group of European listed private equity companies, has expanded its ranks by bringing on board HBM BioVentures, the venture capital company listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange. The entrance of the company raises LPEQ’s membership to 18, it said.

HBM BioVentures is invested in companies in the human medicine, biotechnology and medical technology sectors.  It focuses mainly on unlisted emerging companies.

LPEQ, launched in 2006 to increase awareness and understanding of the listed private equity sector, has a membership with a combined market capitalisation of over €6 billion.

Listed private equity funds have become more prominent in recent years, drawing on their ability to give investors access to an asset class that is often typically closed to mass retail investors or even wealthy indviduals, although this problem has declined somewhat since the financial crisis.

An issue faced by closed-ended funds such as listed private equity vehicles is the pricing of their shares: shares can and do trade either at a premium or discount to the underlying value of a fund’s portfolio. One benefit of listed private equity funds, their managers say, is that they typically must disclose more data on their returns and performance than is often the case with unlisted vehicles.