We own a concentrated portfolio across public and private markets. We evaluate businesses as complex adaptive systems, back the ones built to adapt, and hold them through the cycles that reward patience.

Systems Thinking. We view businesses as complex adaptive systems, not as discounted cash flow models with a quality overlay. The questions that matter are how a business adapts, how its stakeholder relationships compound, and whether the operating system that produced past results can persist through change. The intellectual lineage runs through Munger, Thorndike, Mauboussin, and the complexity research of NZS Capital and adjacent practitioners.

The Emergence Value Matrix. Every investment is assessed across seven dimensions of business quality: competitive dynamics, management quality, capital allocation, operational resilience, secular tailwinds, valuation, and catalysts. The framework is designed to surface businesses where fundamental quality is persistent but market pricing has not yet caught up, and to distinguish organic compounding from growth that depends on continuous capital infusion.

Duration as Structural Advantage. The fund's capital structure permits ten to fifteen year holding periods. In public markets this allows us to underwrite businesses on the strength of their decade-out economics rather than next-quarter sentiment. In private markets it allows us to enter situations where the value creation arc requires patience that intermediated capital cannot provide. Duration is not a marketing concept; it is the structural feature that makes the strategy possible.

GP Alignment. The principals invest alongside limited partners on identical economic terms. The capital is subject to the same allocation constraints, the same liquidity profile, and the same return outcomes. This is a non-negotiable principle of how the fund is constructed, not a feature added for marketing.

A Flexible Hybrid. The fund deploys capital across public and private markets through a flexible allocation that responds to the opportunity set. Public positions provide liquidity, daily repricing, and the optionality to redeploy when private opportunities arise. Private positions provide proprietary access, structural pricing power, and exposure to value creation arcs that public markets cannot price. Capital moves between the two sleeves as relative pricing and pipeline depth dictate.

Illustrative and conceptual. Describes an investment approach. Not an offer or a representation as to returns.

Public Markets. A concentrated portfolio of high-conviction positions. Low turnover. Five-plus year intended holding periods. The portfolio is constructed bottom-up from the Emergence Value Matrix, with each position reflecting the depth of conviction and the asymmetry of expected outcomes. We would rather hold cash than dilute the portfolio with positions that have not earned their place.

Private Markets. Transactions across credit, real estate, operating businesses, technology, financial services, and regulated infrastructure. We invest through equity, credit, and hybrid structures, across a range of transaction sizes. The fund participates as minority investor, significant minority, or controlling shareholder depending on what the situation requires, with active operational involvement where the principals can add specific value.

Sourcing. The majority of pipeline transactions arise from relationships built over decades: prior board roles, advisory mandates, co-investments, or operational involvement with the management teams and sponsor groups concerned. Auctioned processes and broker books are deliberately deprioritised. Structural complexity is a sourcing filter rather than a friction. Multi-jurisdictional transactions, capital cycle timing, and regulatory dynamics screen out generalist capital and create pricing power for committed, flexible investors who can underwrite the complexity. The principals have closed transactions across Cayman, BVI, Irish, UK, French, US, and Brazilian deal structures.

Geographic Footprint. The pipeline currently spans the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the United States, Brazil, and the Gulf. Geographic spread is constructed deliberately, not opportunistically. No jurisdiction dominates the allocation, and depth of local knowledge in each market is a precondition for deployment.

Portfolio Construction. The two sleeves are designed to interact. Yield-generating private positions sit alongside capital-appreciation public holdings. Liquid public positions provide the optionality to fund time-sensitive private transactions without forced selling. The result is a portfolio that compounds across multiple return profiles rather than depending on a single thesis to be right.

Investment Committee. Every investment requires unanimous Investment Committee approval. The Committee includes an independent member with regulatory and operational expertise. Unanimity is the discipline; deliberation is the practice.

Risk management at Emergence Partners begins with portfolio construction. Diversification across asset classes, geographies, and return profiles, together with disciplined concentration, are the primary tools. They are not overlays added after the fact but the architecture within which every investment is made.

The hybrid structure is itself a risk management device. Built-in public market liquidity ensures the portfolio can meet redemption profiles, fund private capital calls without forced selling, and rebalance when relative pricing dictates. The private sleeve is deployed at counterparty deal rhythms rather than internal deployment targets. Capital is never forced into suboptimal timing because the calendar requires it.

Governance and risk control operate through the same mechanism. The Investment Committee requires unanimity, includes an independent member, and reviews both new commitments and ongoing portfolio risk. Material changes to portfolio composition, deal structure, or risk profile return to the Committee. Unanimity is not a procedural hurdle; it is the formal expression of the conviction discipline that underlies the strategy.

Environmental, social, and governance considerations are integrated into the diligence process for every investment. ESG factors are treated as material to fundamental quality rather than as a separate reporting layer.

Ian Higgins, Managing Partner
Ian has twenty years of experience navigating crises and building platforms, with £500 million in capital raised across two housing businesses. As Head of Special Situations at Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (2012–2016), Ian managed a €3 billion portfolio across 15 countries, leading substantial asset recovery efforts during Ireland's banking crisis. Since 2016, Ian has built housing platforms, raising £350 million for a UK proptech platform and securing €250 million as CEO of Residential Reversions Ltd. Ian currently holds advisory roles and board representation at portfolio companies and is based in the Gulf.

BA Business Studies (Griffith College Dublin) | Postgraduate Diplomas in Corporate Finance and Insolvency Practice with Distinction (Chartered Accountants Ireland) | QFA | CBI and FCA Regulated

Paul Higgins, Managing Partner
Paul has fifteen years of experience across value investing, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions. Since 2020, he has completed transactions with enterprise values exceeding €60 million. Prior to 2020, he participated in transactions exceeding €500 million across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Paul began his career as an analyst at Wallace Capital Management, a $1 billion value-oriented hedge fund, subsequently working at Ernst & Young Corporate Finance and Accenture Global M&A. He gained institutional experience at Waterland Private Equity (€9 billion AUM). From 2021–2023, he served as Advisor to Stripe for the 2023 edition of Poor Charlie's Almanack, working alongside Peter Kaufman (CEO, Glenair).

BA Economics (University College Dublin) | ACA Qualified (Chartered Accountants Ireland) | Columbia Executive Value Investing Programme

Lewis Kilroe, Chief Operating Officer
Lewis has fifteen years of experience building institutional fund operations. As former COO of a $2 billion alternative investment firm, he built and scaled infrastructure across investor relations, regulatory compliance, risk management, and technology platforms. At Emergence Partners, Lewis oversees investor relations and reporting, regulatory compliance, service provider coordination, risk management frameworks, and technology infrastructure.

Adrian Beattie, Independent Director and Investment Committee Member
Adrian has thirty years of financial services leadership, including senior executive roles at SS&C Technologies, where he specialized in global fund operations and institutional infrastructure. Adrian provides independent oversight on the Investment Committee, with particular focus on operational risk, regulatory compliance, and service provider governance.

Emergence Partners publishes regularly on systems thinking, capital allocation, and the practice of patient long-term investing. Our writing and conversations are intended for investors and operators who care about the same questions we do.

Environmental, Social, and Governance factors are integral to our investment process and risk management framework.

ESG Integration:
• Systematic ESG evaluation in all investment decisions
• Proprietary ESG scoring methodology
• Active engagement on ESG improvements post-investment
• Regular monitoring and reporting of ESG metrics

Exclusion Policy:
We maintain firm-wide exclusions for:
• Weapons and defense contractors
• Tobacco products
• Gambling operations
• Predatory lending
• Environmentally destructive practices

Positive Screening:
We actively seek investments that contribute to:
• Sustainable business models
• Positive social impact
• Strong governance practices
• Environmental innovation
• Stakeholder capitalism

Reporting: Annual ESG report provided to all investors detailing portfolio-level ESG metrics and improvement initiatives.