We examine the performance of 2,790 private equity (PE) funds incepted during 1979-2008 using Stochastic Discount Factors (SDFs) implied by the two leading consumption-based asset pricing models (CBAPMs) — external habit and long-run risks — as their assumptions appear consistent with...

Using the universe of Business Development Companies (BDCs), a unique publicly traded segment of U.S. Private Equity (PE), for the period 1998-2017 we provide the first in depth examination of their performance and risk adjusted characteristics. More importantly, we show that the readily...

For years, research has been conducted to correctly model and predict the risk and return structures of Private Equity (PE) funds. Although past research has revealed valuable insight into the features of those funds, most risk and return model struggle with the dispersion of PE funds' returns,...

This paper proposes a theory of the equilibrium liquidity premia of private equity funds and explores its asset-pricing implications. The theory is based on the notion that investors are exposed to the risk of facing surprise liquidity shocks, which upon arrival force them to liquidate their...

This paper is the first systematic analysis of the impact of diversification on the performance of private equity funds. A unique data set allows the exact evaluation of diversification across the dimensions financing stages, industries, and countries. Very different levels of diversification...

Until the advent of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds (CEFs) were the only professionally managed portfolios suitable for non-accredited investors that could be traded like individual stocks. We hypothesize that the introduction of an ETF in an asset class similar to an existing CEF...

Performance persistence in the private equity industry is not long-lived. Current fund performance is positively and significantly associated with the performance of the first follow-on fund, but the magnitude of persistence substantially declines afterwards. Persistence, if any, is largely...

This paper examines diversification as a source of value creation and destruction in private equity (PE) funds. Previous literature has focused on the ‘diversification discount' in corporations. However, in PE funds, diversification might increase returns by ameliorating managerial risk...

General partners (GPs) in private equity (PE) report the performance of an existing fund while raising capital for a follow-on fund. Interim performance has large effects on fundraising outcomes; the impact is greatest when backed by exits and for low reputation GPs. Faced with these incentives,...

When a private equity firm raises a larger fund, performance tends to decline. This pattern is usually interpreted as evidence of decreasing returns. I propose a more innocuous explanation: high-growth private equity firms were on average lucky in the past and therefore are expected to...