In third quarter 2017, the Cambridge Associates LLC US Private Equity Index® returned 3.9%, matching or beating the previous two quarters to bring its year-to-date return to 11.7%. The Cambridge Associates LLC US Venture Capital Index® returned 3.2% for third quarter, an increase from a weak second quarter; the venture index’s year-to-date performance was 8.1%.
As the economic cycle progresses, the next recession draws inexorably closer, bringing with it the next downturn in the credit cycle. Recognizing this, institutional investors are increasingly considering allocations to distressed debt managers. While lumping all distressed managers into one group is tempting, different managers have meaningfully different approaches and investors’ traditional way of thinking about distressed debt managers makes timing paramount. In this paper, we offer a new way to think about distressed investing that combines three complementary sub-strategies and encourages investors to allocate across the credit cycle.
In second quarter 2017, in USD terms, the Cambridge Associates LLC Global ex US Developed Markets Private Equity and Venture Capital Index (PE/VC) returned 10.2% to bring its first half performance to 14.7%. The Cambridge Associates LLC Emerging Markets Private Equity and Venture Capital Index earned 3.3% in second quarter, bringing its six-month return to 7.5%.
Second quarter 2017 US private equity performance was quite strong, while US venture capital performance was more middling, as indicated by the Cambridge Associates LLC benchmark indexes of the two alternative asset classes.
It sure looks like it. The increasingly unforgiving nature of public equity markets, coupled with the continued evolution and growth of private investment markets, is making it easier for more companies to stay private, with some CEOs avowing to do so indefinitely.
Cambridge Associates partnered with the Latin American Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (LAVCA) to conduct an annual survey of global institutional investors about their views on Latin American markets. The survey report covers both domestic and international investors’ views of private equity opportunities and challenges in Latin America, based on responses from 103 limited partners.
Yes. Although investors do need to be mindful of the long-term transition occurring in energy markets, we don’t believe that mindfulness should preclude new investments in top-quality traditional private energy managers.
The potential for strong performance and use as a diversifier give private energy investments merit as part of portfolios.
After earning nearly identical returns in fourth quarter 2016, in USD terms, the Cambridge Associates LLC Global ex US Developed Markets Private Equity and Venture Capital Index and the Cambridge Associates LLC Emerging Markets Private Equity and Venture Capital Index produced similar results again in first quarter 2017 (4.2% and 4.0%, respectively).
Private credit offers distinct advantages and appeal in a low return environment, but investors should be aware that behind the name is a diverse array of strategies, some more familiar to institutional investors than others, each with idiosyncratic risks. In this report, we describe the broad array of private credit strategies and position them along the risk/return spectrum, review the investment process, discuss expectations for the performance of these strategies in various parts of the economic cycle, and highlight some key risks for investors to consider.