Private Equity Performance Measurement Requires Unique Calculations

View PDF To help institutional investors better understand whether their private equity portfolios are performing well, Callan recently published “The Keys to Unlocking Private Equity Portfolio Assessment,” covering performance measurement and benchmarking for this asset class. In this blog post we focus on how performance for private equity is calculated and how it differs from return calculations […]

Private Equity Attractive to Return-Seeking Investors

View PDF This blog post from Callan’s Private Equity Consulting Group provides a high-level summary of private equity activity in the second quarter through all the investment stages, from fundraising to exits, as well as performance data across a range of market cycles. (Investment-stage data provided by PitchBook; performance data from Refinitiv/Cambridge.) Private equity remains […]

Hedge Funds Feed on Market’s Cognitive Dissonance

As the global economy slowed further in the second quarter, central banks aggressively talked of easing again. Although resilient consumer spending continued to support corporate earnings, company outlooks were less positive due to growing trade war concerns. Across the capital markets, the cognitive dissonance within the investor community trying to interpret these mixed economic signals […]

Institutional Investors Take a Close Look at MLPs 2.0

In recent years master limited partnerships (MLPs) have been transitioning to what’s become known as the “MLP 2.0 model,” broadly defined by self-funding, capital discipline, and balance sheet strength. It is a long-overdue improvement for the asset class that has led institutional investors to take a new look at these vehicles.

Don’t Fear the Walking Dead

View Jim’s Paper Survivorship bias reflects an exclusive focus on survivors instead of a broader context that includes non-survivors. When we evaluate portfolios of investments using peer groups, survivorship bias can create an illusion that hinders our ability to make informed decisions. Other biases in such data sets (e.g., self-reporting bias or selection bias) can […]

How to Distinguish Between Growth Equity and Late-Stage Venture Capital

Read Ashley’s Paper Fund sponsors should understand the characteristics of the assets in which they are invested, or are evaluating as possible investments. This better positions them to make informed judgments about their long-term strategies and the construction of their portfolios. This tenet is especially relevant for investors in private equity given the wide dispersion […]

A Primer on Interval Funds

Over the past several years, as managers have struggled to retain assets in active products and investors have flooded into all forms of alternatives, the investing industry has witnessed growing popularity in a structure that has actually been around for some time—the interval fund. A number of notable managers have recently launched interval fund products, […]

Analysis of 1Q19 Private Equity Markets

View PDF This blog post from Callan’s Private Equity Consulting Group provides a high-level summary of private equity activity in the first quarter through all the investment stages, from fundraising to exits, as well as performance data across a range of market cycles. (Investment-stage data provided by PitchBook; performance data from Refinitiv/Cambridge.) Fundraising: Strong Start […]

The Pause That Refreshes

At the end of last year, the Federal Reserve quickly pivoted from its longstanding tightening narrative to a pause. With the U.S. economy still strong but slowing, the Fed said it needed “some time” to decide whether to raise or lower rates next. For most capital markets, that pause was indeed refreshing, as an old Coke […]

Co-Investments: Opening Doors of Opportunity

Co-investing with hedge funds is a chance for institutional investors to enhance returns while reducing overall fees