Investing in public and private companies
When we invest in progress
Companies are choosing to stay private for longer. That means we need to hunt beyond public markets for the best returns possible for our shareholders.
As an investment trust, we don’t need to draw a hard line between privately-owned and publicly-listed companies. We can support great companies wherever they are on their journey, giving you the opportunity to access uninterrupted growth if or when a private company decides to list.
We’ve been investing in private companies since 2012 and have been building our knowledge and expertise in this area since. However, what still remains true is that the fundamental characteristics of a company are what matter most. Whether a company is public or private is largely immaterial.
Please note the trust’s risk could be increased as these assets may be more difficult to sell, so changes in their prices may be greater.
For Scottish Mortgage, we want to invest wherever change is. What we don’t want to be doing is saying, ‘There’s really great progress over there, but we can’t get our shareholders involved in it.’ That’s why being able to invest in both public and private companies really matters.
Lawrence Burns, Deputy Manager
More on our philosophy
Investment trusts are UK public companies and are not authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. You may not get back the amount invested and please bear in mind that past performance is not a guide to future performance.