Are Retail Investors the Vanguard of Private Equity?

Yes, and they have been for some time. Progress has been slow, but current market and regulatory conditions could enable a breakthrough. The impact will be felt primarily in the upper registers of the private equity arena. I’m viewing Vanguard’s recent private equity–related announcement as the first of a two-step process. The first step is […]

February 2020

Venture Capital Positively Disrupts Intergenerational Investing

Families of wealth face three key questions about intergenerational wealth planning: how best to invest to sustain future generations; how best to engage the next generation; and how best to ensure family unity endures. Often each question is addressed independently. We find that a conversation across generations about the impact of a meaningful venture capital allocation can help address all three questions in an integrated manner.

January 2020

Is Private Equity Energy Dead?

No. But, the game has changed and to be successful, investors should adopt a new commitment strategy. While the industry faces secular challenges, managers can innovate to exploit disruption and generate attractive absolute returns. Private equity (PE) energy has quickly gone from growth driver to investment pariah. Throughout the 2000s and into the 2010s, persistently […]

October 2019

Revving UK Pension Schemes’ Funding Engines

A number of UK defined benefit pension schemes have experienced significant funding level gains in recent years, driven by sponsor contributions, liability management exercises, and strong equity market returns. However, due to increased volatility in global equity markets, relatively high valuations in many market segments, and the late stages of the economic and credit cycles, optimising the scheme’s growth engine is more challenging than ever. This paper provides a framework for how to achieve that goal.

August 2019

Stress and Losses Among Middle-Market Senior and Unitranche Loans: Introducing Cambridge Associates’ New Database

As part of our ongoing commitment to alternative credit, Cambridge Associates (CA) began compiling a database of credit stress and losses in one of the largest strategies within private credit, senior debt (i.e., direct lending). Our initial outreach in the United States and Europe yielded data from 11 senior debt funds tracking material document modifications (which we use as a proxy for credit stress, greater detail below) and loss rates in bilateral and clubbed middle-market lending.

July 2019

Are Private Equity Mega Funds in a Category by Themselves?

Mega funds are indeed in a category by themselves, namely that of a new public markets proxy.

May 2019

Should Investors Allocate to Public or Private Chinese Investments?

Public and private Chinese equities both present attractive investment opportunities today.

May 2019

Revving Pension Plans’ Funding Engines

Many corporate defined benefit plans experienced significant funded status gains in recent years. Recent capital markets volatility, however, has set many plans a few steps back, re-focusing plan sponsors on both protecting long-term funded status gains and closing the asset-liability deficit. Given increased volatility in global equity markets, relatively high valuations in many market segments, and the late stages of the economic and credit cycles, optimizing the plan’s growth engine is more critical, and challenging, than ever.

April 2019