Evergreen Private Equity: What’s in a Name?

Historical Context: Listed Private Equity as The Original Evergreen

Democratisation of private markets has accelerated through regulatory reform and product innovation. Evergreen structures, open-ended, perpetual vehicles that recycle capital and offer flexible liquidity, have risen globally as a way to provide more investors with continued exposure to private markets without the traditional barriers to entry and burden of capital calls.

Yet the industry narrative often overlooks a simple reality: listed private equity (PE) has long embodied many of these same attributes. For decades, listed PE has provided diversified exposure to private markets through a liquid wrapper with daily pricing, lower entry points, transparent reporting and robust governance.

The first listed PE trust launched in the 1980s, operating as a perpetual capital structure that maintains continuous exposure and provides daily pricing on a public exchange. In that sense, listed PE is arguably the original evergreen product.

The UK hosts the most established market for listed investment companies, particularly listed PE, offering accessible routes for wealth and retail clients. However, many other jurisdictions historically lacked comparable structures, leaving investors unable to access PE.

In markets without mature listed PE vehicles, the growth of evergreen and semi-liquid funds has helped bridge this access gap by delivering private markets exposure with regular subscriptions, periodic liquidity, frequent valuations, and enhanced disclosure, while sidestepping the high minimums, capital calls, and long lockups of traditional closed-end funds.

Evergreen Vehicles of Today

Pioneered in the early 2000s, the expansion of evergreen and semi-liquid funds reflects global regulatory reform, product innovation, and the maturation of private markets. These vehicles blend long-term private market discipline with periodic liquidity windows, appealing to institutions, wealth managers, family offices, and individual investors alike. As more jurisdictions widen distribution rules and strengthen investor protections, evergreen structures have become a practical gateway to private markets.

Modern evergreen funds echo the model which listed PE established decades ago: perpetual structures that recycle proceeds from exits into new investments, sustaining continuous exposure to private markets. This capital recycling – central to evergreen investing – is fundamental to listed PE.

Liquidity Mechanics

Both listed PE and evergreen funds solve for private markets’ fundamental challenge: liquidity. While neither vehicle type can turn private companies into liquid financial instruments, both provide investors with options. In the case of evergreens, monthly or quarterly liquidity windows and redemption limits protect investors from volatility. On exchanges, liquidity comes from the stock market mechanism and shares that trade daily, allowing investors to adjust their exposure without putting pressure on portfolio holdings.

PE is often misunderstood – perceived as accessible only to institutions or the wealthy due to high minimum commitments, long lock-up periods, and complex eligibility criteria, though this is increasingly untrue. While traditional closed-end funds still account for the majority of industry assets under management, newer structures have broadened access and dispelled many myths. Evergreen funds provide ongoing subscription-based entry points with lower minimums, periodic liquidity, and simplified onboarding, alongside greater transparency through regular valuations, detailed reporting, and clear governance. As companies stay private for longer, today’s PE ecosystem increasingly focuses on fostering sustainable growth, promoting transparency, and ensuring accountability – making evergreen vehicles a practical, investor-friendly way to participate responsibly.

Investor Fit: Matching Structure to Client Needs

All fund structures have their own merits and considerations – from the pace of capital deployment to the frequency and mechanism of subscriptions and redemptions. Listed private equity offers daily trading and pricing, providing immediate liquidity and operational simplicity. Evergreen and semi-liquid structures generally allow monthly or quarterly subscriptions and redemptions, often with caps (commonly around 5% of NAV per quarter) to balance liquidity and long-term discipline. Each carries distinct volatility, governance, and reporting profiles.

Ultimately, client requirements should drive the choice:

• Wealth or retail investors may prioritise daily trading and liquidity, favoring listed PE;
• Multi-asset or defined contribution pension schemes with quarterly allocation cycles may align better with evergreen or semi-liquid structures;
• High-net-worth individuals and family offices may use a combination of all three structures, depending on client needs and requirements. Some clients might be comfortable with less frequent liquidity and longer deployment timelines to achieve targeted exposure and potential return enhancements.

However institutional investors with ongoing liquidity needs also value the balance of access and stability and are increasingly turning to evergreen funds as an additional tool in their private markets toolkit, given more immediate deployment and continuous exposure.

As semi-liquid evergreen funds grow in popularity, it is worth acknowledging that listed PE was the original blueprint – but the starting point should be client requirements, optionality, and access. Listed PE has long delivered the core attributes investors seek in evergreen PE: perpetual exposure through disciplined reinvestment, transparency, and practical, liquid access. As such, they serve as both historical precedent and a modern solution in today’s private-market landscape. Against a backdrop of heightened scrutiny and greater emphasis on transparent pricing, listed PE offers a ready-made route to evergreen exposure that many allocators are increasingly prioritising. Perhaps it’s time to call it what it is: listed evergreen private equity.

Luke Mason is part of the Neuberger Private Markets team based in London, is the Head of Investor Relations for the London-listed NB Private Equity Partners and a member of Invest Europe’s Listed Private Capital Roundtable.