Private Equity/Venture Capital

The Global Overhang (According to Goldilocks): Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right

Today’s estimated global overhang is $909 billion net of fees, with US private equity, European private equity, and real estate the primary contributors. With capital appearing to be deployed at a slower pace than historically, the overhang is larger than expected. Too much overhang and the pressure to put capital to work before it expires…

US PE/VC Benchmark Commentary: First Quarter 2014

US private equity and venture capital funds began 2014 with positive first quarter returns, as indicated by the Cambridge Associates LLC benchmark indexes. Compared to their strong fourth quarter performance, private equity and venture capital fund returns were lower for the quarter, as were public equity returns. For the second quarter in a row the…

A Framework for Benchmarking Private Investments

Executive Summary 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. The two most common measures of investment performance—time-weighted returns (TWRs) and money-weighted returns, typically an internal rate…

Global ex US PE/VC Benchmark Commentary: Fourth Quarter 2013

The Cambridge Associates LLC Global ex US Developed Markets Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) Index rose 6.5% in US$ terms in fourth quarter 2013, its sixth consecutive positive quarter, bringing its return for 2013 to 16.3%. The Cambridge Associates LLC Emerging Markets PE/VC Index rose 7.3% in fourth quarter and 13.6% for the year….

Investment Opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa’s changing political and economic landscape over recent decades offers investment prospects worthy of consideration. In this report, we address the key opportunities and risks associated with public (long-only and hedge funds) and private market investing in sub-Saharan Africa, with an emphasis on Frontier Africa. We find that public markets exhibit attractively low correlations to…

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….