How to buy growth companies before they get expensive

Investors who bought into Afterpay’s 2016 IPO have had great returns, seeing their investment appreciate by more than 33 times in under four years, even after the recent sell-off. But for investors invested in Afterpay’s pre-IPO round less than a year earlier, they’ve seen far great returns – well over 100 times. 

Traditionally, pre-IPO investing has been restricted to institutions or venture capital funds with long lock-up periods due to the illiquidity of the underlying investments. But Mike Hill, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Bombora Group, takes a different approach. By investing in both private and publicly listed companies, they’re no longer subject to the same level of illiquidity.

In this week’s episode of The Rules of Investing podcast, we discuss some of the similarities and differences between working in private markets and public markets, one unknown company that he believes could one day be a large cap, and we take a dive into a case study of an ASX-listed company he's taken from private to public.

Time stamps

2:35 – Going from Private Equity to Funds Management
6:52 – What separates successful businesses from failed ones
8:45 – The Bombora screening process
13:25 – The journey of one pre-IPO investment through to listing
19:40 – A few challenges faced with this company
23:14 – What the future looks like for this company
25:04 – One tiny company Mike thinks could one day be a large cap
30:48 – Mike answers our 3 favourite questions

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