【12月4日】Valuing Private Equity

Abstract：To evaluate private equity (PE) performance, we solve a portfolio-choice model for a risk-averse investor (LP), investing in a PE fund, managed by a general partner (GP). Our model captures: illiquidity, non-diversifiable risk and incomplete markets, GP compensation, GP value added, and leverage. We derive tractable formulas for the certainty-equivalent valuation of the PE investment. Importantly, we find that costs of illiquidity and non-diversifiable risk are high and comparable to the costs of GP compensation. Interestingly, leverage reduces these costs. Our analysis suggests that conventional interpretations of PE performance measures are optimistic. On average, LPs may just break even.