The latest annual results statement from RIT Capital Partners, the London-listed closed-ended investment company chaired by Lord Rothschild, provides a further illustration of the ability of private investment to mitigate equity market volatility as well as boosting returns.

Private investments, which accounted for 25.7 percent of RIT Capital’s assets at 31 December 2018, contributed  a 4.9 percent return to the portfolio, the single biggest contribution of any of the asset classes held.

This easily outperformed the contribution of equities (-6.3 percent) which, at 44.0 percent still remained the single most impo...