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Risk Adjustment in Private Equity Returns

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  • Arthur Korteweg

Abstract

This article reviews empirical methods to assess risk and return in private equity. I discuss data and econometric issues for fund-level, deal-level, and publicly traded partnerships data. Risk-adjusted return estimates vary substantially by method, time period, and data source. The weight of evidence suggests that, relative to a similarly risky investment in the stock market, the average venture capital (VC) fund earned positive risk-adjusted returns before the turn of the millennium, but net-of-fee returns have been zero or even negative since. Average leveraged buyout (BO) investments have generally earned positive risk-adjusted returns both before and after fees, compared with a levered stock portfolio. Based on an expanded set of risk factors from the literature, VC resembles a small-growth investment, while BO loads mostly on value. I also discuss the empirical evidence on liquidity and idiosyncratic volatility risks.

Suggested Citation

  • Arthur Korteweg, 2019. "Risk Adjustment in Private Equity Returns," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 131-152, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:refeco:v:11:y:2019:p:131-152
    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-financial-110118-123057
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    Cited by:

    1. Kurtović, Hrvoje & Markarian, Garen, 2024. "Tail risks and private equity performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    2. Verdickt, Gertjan & Deloof, Marc, 2024. "Banking on innovation: Listed and non-listed equity investing, evidence from société générale de Belgique, 1850–1934," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Matthias Fleckenstein & Francis A. Longstaff, 2023. "Small Business Equity Returns: Empirical Evidence from the Business Credit Card Securitization Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(1), pages 389-425, February.
    4. Aleksandar Andonov & Roman Kräussl & Joshua Rauh & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2021. "Institutional Investors and Infrastructure Investing [Pension fund asset allocation and liability discount rates]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(8), pages 3880-3934.
    5. Agarwal, Vikas & Barber, Brad M. & Cheng, Si & Hameed, Allaudeen & Shanker, Harshini & Yasuda, Ayako, 2023. "Do investors overvalue startups? Evidence from the junior stakes of mutual funds," CFR Working Papers 23-04, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    6. Eric Luxenberg & Stephen Boyd & Mykel Kochenderfer & Misha van Beek & Wen Cao & Steven Diamond & Alex Ulitsky & Kunal Menda & Vidy Vairavamurthy, 2022. "Strategic Asset Allocation with Illiquid Alternatives," Papers 2207.07767, arXiv.org.
    7. Vikas Agarwal & Brad Barber & Si Cheng & Allaudeen Hameed & Ayako Yasuda, 2023. "Private Company Valuations by Mutual Funds," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 693-738.
    8. Arpit Gupta & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2021. "Valuing Private Equity Investments Strip by Strip," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(6), pages 3255-3307, December.
    9. Emanuele Teti & Alberto Dell’Acqua & Ada Bovsunovsky, 2024. "Diversification and size in venture capital investing," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 14(2), pages 475-500, June.

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