​Private equity, generally speaking, is an equity (stock) investment in a privately-held company.  My blog post “LP Corner: What is Private Equity?” provides an overview of how the term “private equity” is used.  This post is going to explore the “equity” component of “Private Equity.”  This post is a complement to my posts "LP Corner: What is Private Equity" and "LP Corner: The "Private" in Private Equity".
 
Let’s start with a basic definition of equity: Equity is the most basic form of ownership in a company.  Since virtually all private equity-backed companies in the United States are corporations, we are going to focus on equity in a corporation.

This is one of a series of posts on fund terms.  Other posts include:

• ​GP Commitment
• Carried Interest Overview
• Carried Interest – Preferred Return and GP Catchup
• GP Clawback
• Management Fee Offsets
• Key Person Clauses
• No Fault Divorce
• For Cause Actions
• Should Venture Capital Funds have a Preferred Return Hurdle?

In private equity, the term “2 and 20” refers to the traditional compensation structure for private equity funds: 2% management fee and 20% performance fee (also known as “carried interest” or “carry”).
 
In this post, we will explore management fee.
 
Historically, management fee was intended to provide fund managers with enough money to pay modest salaries, rent modest offices and incur modest expenses.  It was said that management fee was intended to let the fund manager “keep the lights on” and that the performance fee (known as “carried interest” or “carry”) was where the fund manager made its money.  While investors in private equity funds (known as “limited partners” or “LPs”) continue to take this view, terms in fund documents (known as the "limited partnership agreement" or "LPA") relating to management fee have become more complex.
 
Let’s dig in.
 
In previous posts, we have explored committed capital and the investment period:

• LP Corner: On Committed Capital, Called Capital and Uncalled Capital
• LP Corner: the Four Phases in the Life of a Private Equity Fund
• LP Corner: Private Equity Cash Flows from the LP Perspective

 
We will look at management fee in three phases of a fund’s life: the investment period, the harvesting (or realization) period and during extensions.

To read more, please click on the "Read More" link below and to the right.

I have clients who are new to investing in private equity, and one of the first conversations we have is about "what is private equity"?

Private equity, generally speaking, is an equity (stock) investment in a privately-held company.  Private = privately held company.  Equity = stock.  It's a little more complicated than that, but that's a useful starting point.

The term "private equity" can be used in different contexts and can mean different things.  I group these in 4 categories:

Asset Class.  First, the term "private equity" can refer to the private equity asset class.  An asset class is basically a group of assets that have similar characteristics and behave similarly.  Common asset classes include: public stocks; public bonds (also called fixed income), cash, real estate and private equity.  There are also others, and different investors may define asset classes differently.  This usage of the term "private equity" typically occurs when investors are discussing allocations to asset classes - for example "we are allocated 40% to public equities, 40% to public fixed income; 18% to private equity and 2% to cash."  Within the private equity asset class, there are different strategies, including venture capital, growth equity, buyouts, and distressed debt.  For more on venture capital, growth equity and buyouts, please see my posts "LP Corner: What is Venture Capital? Here's My Definition", "LP Corner: Venture Capital vs Growth Equity - A Comparison" and "LP Corner: What are Buyouts? Here's my Definition."
 
Transaction.  Second, the term "private equity" can refer to a type of transaction – which is primarily buyouts, but it can also describe a growth equity investment.  However, the term "private equity" isn't used to describe a venture capital investment.  Venture capital is a unique strategy within the private equity asset class, and the term "venture capital" is used very specifically.
 
Firm.  Third, the term “private equity” can be used to describe an investment firm.  A “private equity” firm is one that primarily invests in buyout transactions, but the term can also apply to firms that invest in growth equity.  One doesn’t use the term “Private Equity firm” to describe a venture capital firm - those are simply called "venture capital" firms.

Industry.  Finally, the term "private equity" may refer to the private equity industry.  The private equity industry starts with the private equity strategies of venture capital, growth equity and buyouts and also includes investors in the private equity asset class, such as public and private pensions, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, foundations, endowments, family offices and high net worth individuals.  Also included are firms and funds - venture capital firms, growth equity firms and buyout firms, as well as corporate venture capital efforts.  Add in service providers such as attorneys, accountants, valuation firms, database firms, back office support, etc. as well as industry groups (such as the NVCA and ILPA), conference providers and the press, and you end up with a very large industry.
 
So you need to understand the context in which the term is being used.

I hope this explanation is helpful.  For more, please see my posts "LP Corner: The "Private" in Private Equity" and "LP Corner: Understanding the "Equity" of Private Equity".

© 2018 Allen J. Latta. All rights reserved. ​

This one of a series of posts on fund performance metrics.  Other posts in this series include:

• LP Corner: Private Equity Fund Performance – An Overview
• LP Corner: Fund Performance Metrics – Multiples TVPI, DPI and RVPI
• LP Corner: Fund Performance Metrics – Internal Rate of Return (IRR) – Part One
• LP Corner: Fund Performance Metrics – Internal Rate of Return (IRR) – Part Two
• LP Corner: Fund Performance Metrics – Public Market Equivalent (PME)
• LP Corner: Fund Performance Metrics - Private Equity Fund Performance - This blog post.
• LP Corner: Gross vs Net Returns
  

We have now discussed the three metrics that are primarily used to evaluate the performance of private equity funds: (1) the multiples TVPI, DPI and RVPI; (2) IRR; and (3) PME.  We will now discuss how to use these metrics to evaluate the performance of private equity funds.
 
Overview
There are several ways to evaluate the performance of a fund, or a portfolio of funds, with the main methods being:

• Absolute return.
• Comparative return to other similar funds (Quartile Analysis).
• Comparative return to the public markets (PME Analysis).

 
Absolute Return
Absolute return refers to a specific threshold requirement for a fund’s performance.  For example, some LPs may say that they expect a 3.0x TVPI and 30% IRR net return from early stage venture capital funds, or a 2.0x and 20% return for buyout funds.  If a fund’s return exceeds these metrics, then it “outperforms” the metrics.  If a fund’s returns are less than these metrics, then the fund “underperforms.” 
 
A note about absolute return.  Most funds experience a J-Curve, where performance declines in the first couple of years of a fund when fund expenses and investment losses exceed investment gains, but the fund’s performance improves over the next several years.  The J-Curve is more pronounced for early-stage venture capital funds.  The J-Curve looks something like this:

For more on the J-Curve, see my post: “LP Corner: The J-Curve.”
 
The point here is that using absolute returns are really only useful late in a fund’s life or after the fund is liquidated.  If one were to apply a 20% absolute return metric to the fund in the J-Curve example above, the fund would underperform all years until the last year in the graph.

To read more, please click "Read More" to the right below.

Basic Limited Partnership Structure
In a basic limited partnership, there are several passive investors (known as "Limited Partners" or "LPs") and the manager of the fund, (known as the "General Partner" or "GP").  The diagram below illustrates this basic structure.

This is one of a series of posts on fund terms.  Other posts include:

• Management Fee
• ​Carried Interest Overview
• Carried Interest – Preferred Return and GP Catchup
• GP Clawback
• Management Fee Offsets
• Key Person Clauses
• No Fault Divorce
• For Cause Actions
• Should Venture Capital Funds have a Preferred Return Hurdle?

Private equity funds (buyout, venture capital and growth equity funds) are typically structured as limited partnerships, which have two types of partners: limited partners, or LPs, which are passive investors in the fund; and a general partner, or GP, which is the manager of the fund.  As I evaluate funds, one of the fund terms that receives special attention is the amount of money the GP will commit to the fund - which is called "GP Commitment", "GP Capital Commitment" or "GP Commit."  ​

To read more, please click "Read More" to the lower right.