Each quarter State of Michigan Retirement System issues a Private Equity Review that provides a deep dive into the pension plan’s PE portfolio. In this article will highlight some of the major takeaways from the document and discuss why Market Lens users value the insights found in the review.
Real-time data on how pension plans are committing capital for private fund managers offers valuable insight into how the market is trending, what strategies are popular with investors, and which of their competitors are finding fundraising success.
While keeping tabs on recent commitment activity is valuable intel for GPs, forward-looking insights give fund managers actionable data points. Knowing the LPs with clear intentions to commit to their strategies can serve as the foundation for planning and executing a successful fundraise.
Each new fundraising environment brings new challenges for fund managers. After contending with the challenges of virtual fundraising of 2020, GPs are now navigating a market of hybrid fundraises and stiff competition from firms launching new strategies and other coming back to market faster in order to take advantage of LP demand for private markets exposure.
As US-based pension plans strive to put capital to work in the private markets, one area has increasingly come into focus as a destination for new commitments: their home states.
Historically, an overwhelming percentage of capital invested in private funds has flowed to companies located in a short list of states: places like California, Massachusetts, New York, Florida, and Texas.
In an effort to change this dynamic and stimulate their local economies, state pension plans are increasingly issuing RFPs for in-state investment programs.
What will the introduction of retail capital mean for the private fund industry?
In the twelve months that have passed since the U.S. Department of Labor’s June 2020 announcement clarifying and confirming that 401k plans could deploy capital to the private markets, retail capital has been top of mind for investor relations and business development teams across the private markets industry.
Private fund managers often justify their fees by pointing to their track records and claiming that by investing in private companies they are delivering superior returns that are uncorrelated to public markets. But according to research from Vanguard using data from 1980 through 2012, only the top quartile of private equity returns have materially outperformed public markets.
Public market equivalent (PME) analysis gives context to a fund manager’s performance by comparing it against a public market index. It provides a more measurable, continuous benchmark compared to blind pool peer performance datasets.
On March 26, 2021, Callan met with their client North Dakota State Investment Board (SIB) to discuss the results of their In-State Private Markets Program manager search. The document covered in the meeting was among the most viewed in April by Market Lens users.
In this video we sit down with Sasha Jensen, founder & CEO of Jensen Partners to learn more about recent trends in private markets hiring and the progress being made on diversity and inclusion in the industry.
The valuation bridge is a key tool for understanding the value creation of a private equity fund. But despite its valuable insights, the bridge is often categorized as an “LP-only” tool and not widely used by GPs. In the ever evolving and competitive fundraising landscape, GPs who fail to understand their valuation bridge and proactively utilize it as an analytics tool are missing an opportunity to create compelling narratives about their strategy and risk being unprepared for questions from potential investors.
Each month, thousands of documents are added and viewed on eVestment’s Market Lens platform. In February, one of the most viewed documents was a Private Markets Pacing Analysis presentation from consultant RVK for Vermont Pension Investment Committee (VPIC). VPIC is responsible for administering the assets of the public employees of the state of Vermont and is an active in the private markets.