Record Year for Fundraising but Private Equity Exits Slow Down
View PDF This blog post from Callan’s Private Equity Consulting Group provides a high-level summary of private equity activity 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: Onward and Upward Private equity global […]
Alphas of the Pack–Follow the Leader?
Click Here for Jim’s White Paper For institutional investors, widely cited hedge fund indices such as the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite reflect a universe dominated by funds that are too small, too beta-driven, or otherwise not worth considering for scalable diversifying solutions. Furthermore, many larger, more alpha-focused funds choose not to report to a subscription […]
How Hedge Funds and MACs Did in 4Q19
View PDF Twenty years ago, U.S. stock prices were hitting record highs with nosebleed valuations based on a strong economy supported by rising corporate earnings and increasing productivity. Treasury bills then were yielding almost 5% (or 2% real), as the Federal Reserve was slowly taking away the market’s punch bowl by raising rates. Meanwhile, a […]
Trigger Funds: Here’s What You Need to Know
Trigger funds are a drawdown private credit fund structure designed to help an institutional investor deploy capital in a timely fashion in distressed debt strategies, for which it is difficult to time the cycle, and in which an event can quickly yield an investment opportunity. The “trigger” is designed to generate a drawdown of investable […]
Long-Dated Private Equity Funds: Key Considerations for Investors
View Ashley’s Paper Private equity funds typically have a 10-year life, with the option for several one-year extensions. In a new development, GPs have started introducing what are known as long-dated private equity funds, with terms of 15 years or more (some even have no fixed term). In my recent white paper, “Long-Dated Private Equity […]
Investors’ Desire for Gains Drives Interest in Private Equity
PE Newsletter This blog post from Callan’s Private Equity Consulting Group provides a high-level summary of private equity activity in the third 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.) Pressure on institutional […]
Macro Shines; Equity Alpha Shaded
View PDF With fears of softening manufacturing hanging over global equity markets, particularly in Asia and Europe, many central banks actively cut rates to allay economic concerns in the third quarter. Falling yields for sovereign debt and higher-rated credits also helped to soothe concern about the prolonged trade battle between the U.S. and China. Regional […]
Going for Gold: A Prescient Move or a Fool’s Errand?
Read Jim’s Paper Few investments elicit as visceral a response from investors as gold. As perhaps gold’s most notable skeptic, Warren Buffett observes that gold “doesn’t do anything but sit there and look at you.” Stocks are more productive assets, he maintains. Fearful of high stock prices or runaway inflation, advocates view gold as a […]
Assessing High Yield Bonds in the Current Environment
High yield allocations late in the cycle may seem like a bad idea, but investors’ need for yield in the face of falling rates for government bonds is strong. The credit market is still appealing. The higher coupon-clipping aspect of spread has led to superior returns over time. High yield fundamentals broadly speaking remain stable, […]
10 Questions to Address in Evaluating Infrastructure Managers
Read My Paper In my white paper, “Infrastructure: No Longer a Niche Option,” I discussed the characteristics of the infrastructure asset class, both listed and unlisted, and outlined the considerations that institutional investors need to weigh as they consider an allocation to this asset class or evaluate an existing one. In this blog post I provide additional […]