The Hague, May 23 – Juno Investment Partners, known for its successful Juno Selection Fund, will soon launch a new fund that focuses on investments in high quality, listed (family-owned) companies that can achieve predictable annual earnings growth. Compared to the Juno Selection Fund, which invests in companies with an initial market value of 250 million to 4 billion euros, the new fund will invest in companies with a market value of 4 billion to 20 billion euros. “So far, we focused on companies that can be regarded as the teenagers on the stock market. With the new fund we aim for the young adults”, says Lennart Smits of Juno.
The Juno Selection Fund started in January 2008 and has since achieved a compound annual return of 13.1 percent by investing in highly profitable listed companies, with predictable earnings growth where key shareholders are preferably family or management. In 2018, after reaching the maximum assets under management, the Juno Selection Fund closed the fund for new clients as well as for add-on investments by existing participants.

The new Juno Continuation Fund will be managed by Rob Deneke, who joined Juno from well-known asset management company Comgest earlier this month. Rob Deneke is an experienced equity investor who managed various (European) equity funds at Comgest for more than ten years, before co-founding Comgest Benelux in 2006.

From teenagers to young adults
The Juno Continuation Fund sees good investment opportunities in equity investments in the market segment above 4 billion euros, in companies that are too large to be selected for the Juno Selection Fund. Juno’s co-founder Lennart Smits: “Today we only invest in companies that can be regarded as the teenagers of the stock market. With the new fund, we aim for the young adults. These attractive (family-owned) companies can now be held in our Continuation Fund. In this investment category of slightly larger companies, we see many attractive (family-owned) companies with a strong and predictable earnings growth profile and at attractive valuations at that. It is therefore a logical step to focus on that market segment with our new fund. “

Team
Rob Deneke has now joined Juno and he will be responsible for setting up and managing the Juno Continuation Fund. Co-founder Frans Jurgens explains: “We do not want to dilute our team effort for the existing fund by dividing our attention between two funds. For that reason, we began looking for an additional team that can help Juno manage the second fund, in a way that fits exactly with our investment DNA. Lennart and I have known Rob for many years. The knowledge and experience he brings to Juno will benefit not only the new fund, but our entire organisation.”

Rob Deneke started his career in Paris 24 years ago as an analyst and portfolio manager of, among others, the Comgest Growth Europe Fund. He later co-founded Comgest Benelux while continuing to work very closely with the Comgest analysts and portfolio managers in Paris and elsewhere. Rob Deneke: “I remained tempted by the idea to get back into hands-on financial analysis and portfolio management. The Juno Continuation Fund is a great opportunity to launch and manage a new fund from a small, agile organisation. Most importantly, the Juno investment approach is exactly the one that has been my DNA for almost 25 years.”

Juno Investment Partners intends to file the Juno Continuation Fund for approval with the Dutch Regulator, AFM, shortly and, once approved, will subsequently open the fund to qualified investors.

About Juno Investment Partners

Juno Investment Partners was established in 2007 as a fully independent fund manager and has an AIFM license (as referred to in Section 2:65 of the Wft), issued by the Dutch regulator AFM. Juno specializes in the selection of exceptional listed (family owned) companies in Europe. Companies that are able to achieve predictable and stable earnings growth year after year are considered for investment. The selection process focuses on the return on invested capital, a low debt ratio and free cash flows of a highly predictable nature. The analysts/portfolio managers compile a highly concentrated portfolio of approximately fifteen companies that they identify, analyze and visit regularly. Selected companies remain in the portfolio for a longer time period (usually more than five years). All analysts/portfolio managers have themselves invested in the Juno funds.

Juno offers three products: The Juno Selection Fund, which focuses on the selection of smaller and medium-sized listed companies, the Juno Continuation Fund for medium-sized companies and individual asset management using the same investment style, for larger clients through managed segregated accounts.

– The Juno Selection Fund was launched in 2008. This mutual fund invests in distinctive European small and medium-sized companies with an initial market capitalization of €250 million to €4 billion. In recent years, this investment style has resulted in above average investment returns for participants in the Juno Selection Fund. This fund has been hard closed for further (follow on) subscriptions since 2018.

– The same investment strategy is applied in the Juno Continuation Fund, which was launched on February 1, 2020. This fund focuses on unique, medium-sized European companies with a market value between €4 billion and €20 billion at the time of initial purchase. As is the case with the Selection Fund, the Continuation Fund also has a strong preference for investments in businesses that are family owned, or companies in which a family or management itself is also a shareholder.