Video: Investment trust tips: private equity Private equity fund managers look to buy up companies in need of a management shake-up, capital boost or expansion and then "dress them up" for resale or flotation. Successful well-known private equity beneficiaries include restaurant chain Pizza Express, which on flotation repaid four times the initial investment. If you are concerned about liquidity, you could invest in a fund-of-funds, such as J P Morgan, Pantheon Ventures or F & C, but this does not eliminate risk entirely. Because of these complications, private equity is really suitable only for investors with a high risk threshold - and even then only for a minority holding in an otherwise balanced portfolio.