There’s money to be made by investing in public companies but there’s even more money to be made by investing in private ones. Iconic global companies such as Google and Skype have benefited from private equity investment and while there have also been high-profile failures – such as the near collapse of the private equity-owned Nine Network – the best fund managers regularly deliver investors double-digit returns over the long term.

The sector has traditionally been the preserve of sophisticated institutional investors but there are pathways for knowledgeable retail investors to bolster a diversified portfolio with an injection of private equity.