HarbourVest Global Private Equity : HVPE Announces Semi-Annual Results for Six Months Ended 31 July 2019

23 October 2019

RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 JULY 2019

Another period of strong performance

HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited ("HVPE" or the "Company"), today announces its unaudited results for the six-months ended 31 July 2019. All figures relate to the half-year ended 31 July 2019 and are presented in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Continued NAV per share and share price growth

• Growth in net asset value ("NAV") per share of 7.1% over six-month period to $25.80 from $24.09 at 31 January 2019
  o 15.5% in sterling terms
• NAV per share return of 12.5% against FTSE All World total return of 3.3% over 12 months to 31 July 2019
• Share price up 20.6% to £17.20 at half-year end

Net investor during period, with focus on real assets

• $202.4m invested, $138.9m in distributions received

1. $101.3m drawn down by the HVPE-seeded real assets vehicle as it completed its first deal o Distributions dominated by venture-backed liquidity events, in line with wider market
   trends

Active portfolio and balance sheet management

• $315.0m committed across six HarbourVest funds (six months to 31 July 2018: $355.0m)
• Strong balance sheet, with net cash of $87.2m and undrawn $600.0m credit facility, with initial term to 2026

Board strengthened with two new appointments

• HarbourVest Partners, LLC Managing Director Carolina Espinal appointed as a Non-Executive Director
• Edmond Warner appointed as Independent Non-Executive Director

1. Following a period of handover, it is anticipated that Mr Warner will be appointed by the Board as Chairman in July 2020.

Sir Michael Bunbury, Chairman of HVPE, said: "We have continued to make excellent progress over the last six months, with this being reflected in both the growth of NAV per share, and the share price.

"The Company continues to commit considerable resource and effort to further the market's knowledge of HVPE and its performance, in order to stabilise the discount at a level significantly lower than it has been in the past.

"In the face of global political uncertainty, the Company's Investment Manager, HarbourVest Partners, with over 36 years of experience of investing in private markets behind them, and the Board will strive to continue to drive forward the long-term growth of the Company for the benefit of all shareholders."

To view the Company's Semi-Annual Report and Accounts please follow this link: Semi-AnnualReport - Six Months to 31 July 2019. Page number references in this announcement refer to pages in this report.

The Semi-Annual Report and Accounts will also shortly be available on the National Storage Mechanism, which is situated at www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm.

Enquiries:
HVPE
Richard Hickman	Tel: [phone]	[e-mail]
Charlotte Edgar	Tel: [phone]	[e-mail]
HarbourVest Partners
Alicia Sweeney	Tel: [phone]	[e-mail]
MHP Communications
Charlie Barker / Tim	Tel: [phone]	[e-mail]
Rowntree / Pete Lambie
Notes to Editors:

About HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited:

HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited ("HVPE" or the "Company") is a Guernsey-incorporated,closed-end investment company which is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 index. HVPE is designed to offer shareholders long-term capital appreciation by investing in a private equity portfolio diversified by geography, stage of investment, vintage year, and industry. The Company invests in and alongside HarbourVest-managed funds which focus on primary fund commitments, secondary investments and direct co-investments in operating companies. HVPE's investment manager is HarbourVest Advisers L.P., an affiliate of HarbourVest Partners, LLC, an independent, global private markets asset manager with more than 35 years of experience.

About HarbourVest Partners, LLC:

HarbourVest is an independent, global private markets asset manager with 36 years of experience and more than $64 billion in assets under management. The Firm's powerful global platform offers clients investment opportunities through primary fund investments, secondary investments, and direct co- investments in commingled funds or separately managed accounts. HarbourVest has more than 500 employees, including more than 125 investment professionals across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. This global team has committed more than $37 billion to newly-formed funds, completed over $21 billion in secondary purchases, and invested over $11 billion directly in operating companies. Partnering with HarbourVest, clients have access to customised solutions, longstanding relationships, actionable insights, and proven results.

This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer to issue or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for, any securities in any jurisdiction and should not be relied upon in connection with any decision to subscribe for or acquire any Shares. In particular, this announcement does not constitute or form part of any offer to issue or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for, any securities in the United States or to US Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("US Persons")). Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may be taken, released, published or distributed, directly or indirectly to US Persons or in or into the United States (including its territories and possessions), Canada, Australia or Japan, or any jurisdiction where such action would be unlawful. Accordingly, recipients represent that they are able to receive this announcement without contravention of any applicable legal or regulatory restrictions in the jurisdiction in which they reside or conduct business. No recipient may distribute, or make available, this announcement (directly or indirectly) to any other person. Recipients of this announcement should inform themselves about and observe any applicable legal requirements in their jurisdictions.

The Shares have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") or with any securities regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and, accordingly, may not be offered, sold, resold, transferred, delivered or distributed, directly or indirectly, within the United States or to US Persons. In addition, the Company is not registered under the US Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act") and shareholders of the Company will not have the protections of that act. There will be no public offer of the Shares in the United States or to US Persons.

This announcement has been prepared by the Company and its investment manager, HarbourVest Advisers L.P. (the "Investment Manager"). No liability whatsoever (whether in negligence or otherwise) arising directly or indirectly from the use of this announcement is accepted and no representation, warranty or undertaking, express or implied, is or will be made by the Company, the Investment Manager or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisers, representatives or other agents ("Agents") for any information or any of the opinions contained herein or for any errors, omissions or misstatements. None of the Investment Manager nor any of their respective Agents makes or has been authorised to make any representation or warranties (express or implied) in relation to the Company or as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of this announcement, or any other written or oral statement provided. In particular, no representation or warranty is given as to the achievement or reasonableness of, and no reliance should be placed on any projections, targets, estimates or forecasts contained in this announcement and nothing in this announcement is or should be relied on as a promise or representation as to the future.

Other than as required by applicable laws, the Company gives no undertaking to update this announcement or any additional information, or to correct any inaccuracies in it which may become apparent and the distribution of this announcement. The information contained in this announcement is given at the date of its publication and is subject to updating, revision and amendment. The contents of this announcement have not been approved by any competent regulatory or supervisory authority.

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward looking statements". These forward looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "projects", "estimates", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "goal", "target", "aim", "may", "will", "would", "could", "should" or "continue" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts and include statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the Company. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future and may be beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. More detailed information on the potential factors which could affect the financial results of the Company is contained in the Company's public filings and reports.

All investments are subject to risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Prospective investors are advised to seek expert legal, financial, tax and other professional advice before making any investment decision. The value of investments may fluctuate. Results achieved in the past are no guarantee of future results.

This announcement is issued by the Company, whose registered address is BNP Paribas House, St Julian's Avenue, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 1WA

© 2019 HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited. All rights reserved.

Chairman's Statement

Dear Shareholder,

Your Company made excellent progress over the six months to 31 July 2019. Considerable detail is set out in the Investment Manager's Report which follows this statement and I will concentrate on highlighting some of the points in that report as well as reporting on corporate matters and commenting on the political and business environment in which the Company operates.

PERFORMANCE AND NAV PER SHARE

The Company's functional currency is the US dollar. At 31 July 2019, 79% of the underlying funds in which the Company is invested are denominated in US dollars and the majority of underlying assets are located in the US. Thus, it is the US dollar NAV per share that the Board and Investment Manager focus on in relation to performance. During the six months to 31 July, the NAV per share increased by 7.1% to $25.80. Having outperformed the Company's benchmark, the FTSE AW TR Index by 19.4% in the year to 31 January 2019, the substantial rise in many world stock markets over the six months to 31 July meant that the Company underperformed over that short period by 1.2%. Nevertheless, for the period since the original listing of the Company in December 2007 to 31 July 2019, NAV per share has outperformed the benchmark by 3.6% on an annualised basis.

SHARE PRICE AND DISCOUNT

HVPE's shares have been listed on the London Stock Exchange in UK pounds sterling since 2015, with a US dollar quote introduced at the end of 2018. The majority of shareholders are resident in the UK and it is the sterling share price which is of importance to them. The USD/GBP exchange rate has significant influence over the sterling share price. During the six months to 31 July, sterling depreciated against the US dollar with the rate moving from $1.31 to $1.22. In addition, the discount to NAV at which shares were traded narrowed significantly with the consequence that the share price was very strong during the six months, ending at £17.20, an increase of £2.94, or 20.6% over the price at the Company's year end of 31 January. The US dollar price appreciated by 14.7%.

I have referred in earlier statements to the fact that the market can only price HVPE's shares in relation to known information. Thus, at 31 July, the market would have been working from the estimated NAV per share for 30 June which was released in mid-July as $24.98. In relation to the share price at 31 July, the shares traded at a discount of 16.3% to the "live" NAV per share known to the market, that being the 30 June estimate. Details of the reconciliation of discounts with subsequent updates of NAV per share are given on page 55 of this Report.

It is very much to be hoped that the considerable resource and effort that the Company undertakes to further the market's knowledge of HVPE, together with respect for its performance, will result in the discount stabilising at a level significantly lower than it has been for long periods in the past. Indeed, since the middle of May 2019, HVPE's discount has significantly narrowed relative to its peers.

However, the discount is a matter for the market to determine and some volatility in the level of discount must always be expected as the perceived attraction of private equity as a class, and HVPE in particular, ebbs and flows.

Investors in HVPE's shares should always look beyond short-term movements in NAV per share and discounts. Private equity is an asset class for long-term investors who must be able to tolerate short-term

changes in fashion and look towards long-term material outperformance over listed equity markets such as HVPE's NAV per share has demonstrated since inception of the Company.

ASSETS AND DIVERSIFICATION

In recent months a number of commentators have pointed out that well-meaning investor protection regulation has reduced the ability of the smaller investor to access the historically higher returns that have been delivered by a well-managed private equity portfolio. HVPE, as a listed closed-end company, is designed for such investors. It is a substantial and well-diversified company with net assets in excess of $2 billion and a market capitalisation of approximately £1.4 billion. HVPE holds material indirect interests in over 1,000 companies. The majority by value of those underlying investments is in substantial companies with well-understood valuation characteristics and consequently the well-publicised difficulties in relation to liquidity and valuation that over-reliance on a concentrated portfolio of small venture companies has caused some other investment vehicles recently are significantly reduced in respect of HVPE.

BALANCE SHEET

In earlier statements I have drawn attention to the difficult balance as the Board and Investment Manager strive to ensure that the balance sheet contains sufficient long-term assets and commitments to deliver satisfactory NAV growth, whilst at the same time not putting at risk the ability of the Company to sustain a significant deterioration in the world economy and in stock markets. The illiquid nature of the Company's assets is such that management of the balance sheet is not an exact science and it would be very difficult, and potentially seriously detrimental to shareholders' interests, to reverse policy in the event of a downturn. The Board and Investment Manager focus on the level of commitments and the ability of the Company to fund as-yet unfunded commitments. Annual and half-year reports carry the relevant ratios and these are updated in the Company's monthly updates.

The modelling that the Investment Manager undertakes is constantly being refined and discussed with the Board according to four different scenarios, including one which models a downturn more serious and longer lasting than the Company endured, without having to change its strategy, in the Global Financial Crisis in 2008/09. Global stock markets will not always be as benign as they have been for over ten years now and it is imperative that HVPE, as a closed-end company with a finite balance sheet, is able to weather storms as well as prosper in the present sunshine. Part of the Company's armoury is the $600 million bank facility which is undrawn at present and committed, subject to customary covenants, by Credit Suisse and Mitsubishi UFG through to January 2026.

BOARD CHANGES

The Company has already announced that two of the original directors of the Company, Brooks Zug and Keith Corbin, retired from the Board at the Annual General Meeting ("AGM") in July. In my statement in the Annual Report I paid tribute to them both and thanked them for the very substantial part they both played in the success of the Company since inception.

I am very pleased to report that, at the AGM, shareholders supported the election of Carolina Espinal, a Managing Director of the Investment Manager, HarbourVest Partners, as a director to step into Brooks Zug's shoes. The Board is very grateful to shareholders for their support for Carolina and indeed their overwhelming support for all of the resolutions put forward at the AGM. The Company is the property of the shareholders and the Board draws much encouragement from the strong endorsement demonstrated through the votes cast for the resolutions in front of the AGM.

In my statement in the Annual Report I advised that I intend to stand down from the Board no later than July 2020 and that the Board was seeking a prospective successor to me as Chairman. As already announced, following a search led by the Nomination Committee, chaired by Keith Corbin and undertaken by Trust Associates, I am very pleased that Edmond Warner was appointed as a director on 1 August. Ed is a highly experienced director of investment companies generally and in particular is a former Chairman of London listed Standard Life Private Equity Trust plc. Over the months ahead I hope that shareholders will have the opportunity to meet Ed. He will be present at HVPE's Capital Markets Day in London in June 2020 and he and I would be very pleased to meet with interested shareholders.

OUTLOOK

Although listed in London and with the majority of shares owned by UK residents and institutions, only approximately 4% of HVPE's underlying assets are represented by UK companies. The present political uncertainty in the UK is acute and significant volatility in the USD/GBP exchange rate must be a material risk. Any strengthening of sterling would be headwind for the Company's sterling-based share price.

In the US, where the majority of the Company's assets are based, we are witnessing continuing political stress and some concern for the economy as evidenced by reversal of the tightening trend in short-term

interest rates. Elsewhere we are seeing the extraordinary phenomenon of negative interest rates and many asset prices being pushed higher as investors seek returns. On the international scene there are potential flash points in the Middle East and elsewhere. In the face of all this uncertainty, the Company's Investment Manager, HarbourVest Partners, with more than 36 years of experience of investing in private markets behind them, and your Board will strive to continue to drive forward the long-term growth of the Company for the benefit of all shareholders.

MICHAEL BUNBURY

CHAIRMAN

22 October 2019

Investment Manager's Report

PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE

NAV per Share

HVPE's NAV per share continued to grow over the six months to 31 July 2019. Against a mixed macroeconomic backdrop, and despite periodic bouts of equity market volatility due to international trade disputes and ongoing political uncertainty, HVPE's NAV per share increased by 7.1% from $24.09 at 31 January 2019 to $25.80 at 31 July 2019. Translated into sterling, NAV per share growth was 15.5% due to sterling weakening against the US dollar.

The performance of most major equity market indices was broadly positive during the first half of the year, recovering from the sharp declines seen at the end of 2018, and continuing what is now the longest bull market in history. In line with this, HVPE's public benchmark, the FTSE AW TR Index (US dollars), increased by 8.3% in the six months to 31 July 2019. Although HVPE's NAV per share growth of 7.1% lagged this by 1.2 percentage points over the period, public markets tend to be more volatile, rendering short-term comparisons less meaningful. Over the year to 31 July 2019, HVPE's NAV per share returned 12.5% against the FTSE AW TR Index's 3.3% - outperformance of 9.2%. However, longer-term comparisons through the cycle are more indicative of HVPE's performance; measured over the period since inception in December 2007, HVPE's NAV per share has outperformed the FTSE AW TR Index by 3.6% on an annualised basis in US dollar terms.

During the six months ended 31 July 2019 there was a $141.7 million net gain on investments, contributing to an overall increase in net assets of $136.3 million. This compares with a $121.5 million net gain on investments and overall increase in net assets of $117.1 million for the six months to 31 July 2018. The $141.7 million net gain in this financial period was driven by a broadly equal mix of realised and unrealised gains on the portfolio.

In percentage terms, the Secondary portfolio was the best-performing strategy, delivering value growth of 8.8%. Geographically, the strongest gains came from the Asia Pacific portfolio, which generated a value increase of 11.6%; this was followed by the Rest of World assets, which returned 8.8%. In terms of stage, Venture and Growth Equity was the strongest performer, growing 13.2% over the six months ended 31 July 2019. This was followed by Real Assets, which returned 9.5%. More information on the growth drivers can be found on page 27.

As at 31 July 2019, HVPE held investments in 50 HarbourVest funds and seven secondary

co‑investments1 (compared with 46 and seven at 31 January 2019). Of these, the largest drivers of NAV per share growth are described below and shown on the corresponding chart overleaf.

• An HVPE-seeded real assets vehicle was the largest contributor, adding $0.29 per share over the six- month period.
• Fund X Venture was the second largest contributor, adding $0.22 to HVPE's NAV per share. This fund is a 2015 vintage currently in the investment phase. As might be expected at this stage in the fund's life, the majority of this gain came from unrealised growth.
• Following behind this was another, more mature fund of the same strategy, Fund IX Venture. With a vintage year of 2011, this fund is in the growth phase of its life-cycle. As such, growth derived from an almost equal mix of realised and unrealised gains.
• Co-InvestmentIV, a 2016 vintage direct co-investment fund, added $0.12 to NAV per share largely from unrealised gains.
• Fund X Buyout, a 2015 vintage US-focused buyout fund, was the fifth largest contributor adding $0.11 to NAV per share over the period.

1 These include five Secondary Overflow III investments and Absolute, referred to as "HVPE Avalon Co-Investment L.P.", and Conversus, referred to as "HVPE Charlotte Co-Investment L.P.", in the