German Startups Group - Buying back shares

German Startups Group (GSG) continues its transformation into an asset manager. Within its existing portfolio, its focus is on successful exits with proceeds to be partially used for share buybacks and deleveraging. GSG is still exploring available options to exit Exozet, which visibly improved its financial performance in H119. We calculate that GSG’s current share price implies a 43% discount to NAV per share of €2.52 (at end June 2019, adjusted for subsequent buyback). Importantly, the NAV may be out of date as the revaluation of holdings is predominantly driven by new funding rounds/disposals, which were few in H119. Consequently, the average time elapsed since last revaluation based on third-party transactions in its portfolio stood at 357 days (end-June 2018: 226 days).