Private Investments: Filling a Pension’s Return Void

Well-diligenced private investments in a skillfully constructed portfolio are important growth drivers that have helped pension funds deliver superior performance and increased the probability of meeting or exceeding long-term required returns.

October 2015

Constructing Superior Equity Portfolios

A common perception among investors that employ active equity management is that the “donut” structure is more aggressive, more expensive, and riskier than the “core-satellite” structure because of the donut structure’s heavier reliance on concentrated, high tracking error, high fee managers. The research we present in this report, which examines a 17-year period, calls into question these perceptions. Our analysis suggests that, at a minimum, investors should reassess whether a core-satellite structure is as likely to help them earn their payout as a donut structure.

September 2015

Making Waves: The Cresting Co-Investment Opportunity

Private investing without a fee drag! Directly invest in the best companies alongside the best general partners! The headlines resound, while GP offerings and investor interest in co-investments swell. Our analysis shows that co-investment returns have the potential to outpace private fund investment returns. However, not every individual co-investment outperforms, and therein lies the rub. This report frames the opportunities and common pitfalls of co-investing, leveraging our aggregated data on co-investments and funds generating co-investment.

March 2015

Declaring a Major: Sector-Focused Private Investment Funds

The competitive advantages and resulting return profile of sector specialists should not be ignored when constructing a long-term private equity portfolio

November 2014

A Framework for Benchmarking Private Investments

Private investments often play an important role in an investor’s portfolio, yet the inconsistent methodologies typically used to evaluate private investment performance and public market performance result in a lack of understanding about true relative performance. This report provides our views on best practices for measuring private investment performance and introduces a framework for benchmarking private investments.

March 2014

Growth Equity is All Grown Up

Growth equity has matured and evolved into a distinct asset class with different characteristics from both venture capital and private equity, and may represent an attractive alternative for certain investors. For those old enough to remember the commercials, U.S. growth equity could perhaps be called the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of the private investment world. […]

June 2013