Is this the least crowded opportunity in the market today?

In the world of investing, listed markets dominate the airwaves due to their ease of access, broker coverage and liquidity. For that reason, unlisted shares can often take a back seat.

But companies aren’t born on the listed markets. Many of the best opportunities exist in the unlisted, pre-IPO space.

Today’s guest on The Rules of Investing is Dane Roberts – a portfolio manager at Fifth Estate Asset Management. Fifth Estate invest in pre-IPO, IPO, unlisted and listed microcap and small cap companies. Its first fund was launched in 2021 and it has delivered 13.29% since then – impressive considering the extreme volatility of that period. That fund’s closed to new investment, but they’re about launch their second fund with much the same strategy.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

• what it takes to invest in unlisted companies; 
• how they compare to their listed peers; 
• the outlook for unlisted stocks; 
• and why now could be the perfect time to invest at the pre-IPO stage. 

Note: This interview was recorded on Friday May 5, 2023. 

• 1:49 - Birds-eye view of pre-IPO and IPO
• 4:00 - Liquidity in unlisted markets
• 6:00 - Debt vs equity
• 10:30 - The perfect time to put money to work
• 12:45 - Finding and filtering unlisted companies
• 15:30 - How unlisted assets are priced
• 18:40 - When should a company list?
• 22:20 - A company storming towards IPO
• 27:20 - Fund 2
• 30:24 - In it for the long haul
• 33:00 - Monetary policy on the street
• 35:40 - The comeback kid (ASX: NXT)
• 38:45 - An infrastructure company surrounded by moats