Private Equity Access Fund (PEAF)

Our investment philosophy

We strive to source the most compelling opportunities across the wide spectrum of global private equity. We favour specialist managers with deep expertise, strong sourcing pipelines, and robust due diligence processes. We prefer to invest in the less competitive middle and lower middle markets, in sectors that benefit from structural tailwinds. We deliberately avoid crowded segments, seeking investments where we are appropriately compensated for illiquidity. We invest primarily in growth and mid-market buyouts, which offer broader exit routes, lower leverage, and more opportunities for operational improvement. Leveraging our long-standing manager relationships, we access a strong pipeline of co-investments and limited-capacity opportunities across geographies and sectors, to the benefit of our investors.

Differentiated approach

Investment objective

Fund facts

Key risk warnings

• This document is based on information available to Willis Towers Watson at the date of issue, and takes no account of subsequent developments.
• Towers Watson Investment Management Limited has approved this document for issue to recipients categorised as Professional Clients only.
• This material is intended for investors with long-term investment time horizons.
• The value of all investments and the income from them can go down as well as up. This means you could get back less than you invested.
• Changes in exchange rates may cause the value of investments to decrease or increase.
• Past performance does not predict future returns.
• The document contains figures that refer to simulated past performance, which does not predict future returns.
• Expected performance does not predict future returns.
• The scenarios presented are an estimate of future performance based on evidence from the past on how the value of this investment varies, and/or current market conditions and are not an exact indicator. What you will get will vary depending on how the market performs and how long you keep the investment [or product].
• Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each investor and may be subject to change in the future.
• The fund may be exposed to credit and/or default risk of issuers of debt securities that may be held within the fund.
• The issuers of any bonds within the fund may default or not be able to pay the bond income as expected.
• If the fund is denominated in a currency other than your home currency, movements in exchange rates may, if not hedged, have a significant impact on the value of (and income from) your investment.
• Shares/units in the fund may become illiquid and investors may redeem their investments only as stated in the fund’s prospectus.
• Private markets refer to investments not traded on a public exchange or market.
• Underlying private markets investments of the fund will normally be in unlisted companies and assets whose securities are not publicly traded and are therefore likely to be illiquid. They carry substantially higher risk than many investments in the equity of larger, listed companies, their public debt securities, or in listed real assets.
• Investors should regard an investment in private markets as a long-term investment which carries higher risk than many other forms of investment.
• There is usually less transparency in place around the management of private markets investments given the lower disclosure requirements. In general, there is limited information available on the investments and performance of the underlying portfolio companies and assets, other than annual or semi-annual financial statements, or sometimes, quarterly reports.
• Such private market investments are more difficult to value given that they are not traded on a public exchange or market.