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Preqin Benchmarks

Power your investment strategy with the world's largest selection of alternatives benchmarks
Create a free account
Access the most granular and accurate Asset-Level Benchmarks, build custom benchmarks, and develop unique insights to power your investment decisions. Preqin delivers unrivalled data-driven analysis to support all the stages of the investment lifecycle.

Find out how to make the most of Preqin’s Benchmarking solutions by creating a free account today.

What's important for you?

All
Market-level
Fund-level
Constituent funds
Custom benchmarks
Asset-Level Benchmarks NEW
I need something else...
Free benchmarks

What's important for you?

All

Market-level

Fund-level

Constituent funds

Custom benchmarks

Asset-Level Benchmarks NEW

I need something else...

Free benchmarks New

Asset-Level Benchmarks new

Explore the market's most granular and accurate Asset-Level Benchmarks

Asset-level data is crucial to investment decisions yet is highly elusive in private markets. Preqin’s Asset-Level Benchmarks cover more than 55% of all-time buyout deals in North America and Europe and offer investors core metrics such as deal level returns, entry and exit valuation multiples, net leverage, fund loss ratios, operating statistics, and more.

To learn more about Preqin's Asset-Level Benchmarks, request a demo with a team member today.
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private capital benchmarks

Access the world's largest selection of alternatives benchmarks

You can structure more than 100,000 alternatives benchmarks flexibly by vintage, geographic focus, strategy, and fund size to enable automatic quartile assignment of over 16,000 funds with performance data.
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custom benchmarks

Create unlimited custom benchmarks

Select the funds you want to compare, and create your own custom benchmarks to accurately reflect who you want in your peer group.
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constituent funds

See the constituent funds behind the benchmarks

Easily decide how relevant a benchmark is based on the funds within it.
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benchmark compare

Compare multiple benchmarks' relative performance

Evaluate the performance of any private capital fund against multiple benchmarks side-by-side.
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risk-return analysis

Visualize the risk-return profiles of private capital benchmarks

Analyze and compare the risk-return profile of different strategies with ease, and create customized visualizations for presentations.
Read more
J-Curve & cash flow pacing benchmarks

Analyze the J-curve trajectory and cash flow momentum of benchmark groups

Access reliable track records of cash flow pacing behavior and return trajectories to enhance your allocation decision-making.
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pmes & direct alpha

Incorporate PME data into your benchmarking and fund performance analysis

Use Public Market Equivalent metrics (PMEs) to benchmark the performance of a fund or a group of funds against an appropriate public market index, while accounting for the timing of fund cash flows.
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PrEQin Quarterly indices

Compare private equity returns to other asset classes and indices

The PrEQIn - Private Capital Quarterly Index captures the average return earned by investors in their private capital portfolios. This is based on the actual amount of money invested in private capital partnerships.
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horizon irrs

Review performance of a fund strategy or geographic focus over time

Use horizon IRRs to measure the momentum in a fund or your portfolio. Compare a fund's horizon IRR with its inception IRR to determine the impact of a defined time period on the fund's performance.
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gp-curated benchmarks

Create your own custom benchmark for your fund profile

Curate a custom group of peers that your funds' performance can be compared against, with the ability to add commentary to the data you publish on your profile.
Read more

Get started with free Preqin Benchmarks

Access a range of free benchmarks with a Preqin free account – sign up here.

Analyze and compare fund performance with private capital and hedge fund benchmarks based on over 50 years of data. Filter by vintage, geography, strategy, and fund size to get the data most relevant to you. Take your analysis further with a host of benchmarking tools.

Get started with Preqin Benchmarks – the #1 benchmarks for the global alternatives market.
Create a free account
Complete the form below, and a member of our team will be in touch to answer your questions
Private Capital Benchmarks
✖
What are they?
What can you analyze?
Methodology

Access the world's largest selection of alternatives benchmarks

You can structure more than 100,000 alternatives benchmarks flexibly by vintage, geographic focus, strategy, and fund size to enable automatic quartile assignment of over 16,000 funds with performance data.

Simply sign up for a Preqin free account to use the benchmarks, receive our latest reports, and access our proprietary PrEQIn indices.

Evaluate over 50 years of fund performance data against our benchmarks

With Pro you can see the constituent funds behind every benchmark. Because Preqin's benchmarks are standardized, they can demonstrate that there hasn't been any selection bias.

View your portfolio's place in the broader market and make full use of horizon IRRs, custom benchmarks, PMEs, risk return analysis, and more with a Preqin subscription.
Request demo

Methodology

Market benchmark searches can be made based on a fund's vintage, investment strategy, and geographic focus.

Within each benchmark group, performance metrics of called-up, distributed, unrealized value, multiples, and net IRRs are calculated for the following:
• Median – the middle value from an ordered set of a specific benchmark grouping (for each performance metric).
• Average – the mean net IRR is taken from a specific benchmark grouping to calculate the average fund performance metrics.
• Pooled – accounts for the timings of calls/ distributions; aggregates cash flows of constituent funds and calculates resultant net IRRs.
• Weighted – takes the performance ratios of each individual fund and calculates a weighted average using the size of each fund.

Within each benchmark, funds are assigned a quartile ranking – an easy indicator of how a fund is performing relative to others in the benchmark group. The ranking applies to funds that are included in our ‘most up-to-date’ range, i.e., have reported data within the past five quarters.

Both the multiple and net IRR rankings of each constituent fund are used to determine the fund’s overall quartile rank with equal weighting. If one of the two metrics is unknown, its ranking is estimated based on the known metric’s ranking. In instances where the sample size is too small for a specific benchmark group, the fund will be compared to a broader category.

For more information download Preqin's Private Capital Performance Data Guide.
Custom Benchmarks
✖
What are they?
What can you analyze?
Methodology

Create unlimited custom benchmarks

Select the funds you want to compare, and create your own custom benchmarks to accurately reflect who you want in your peer group.

With unlimited custom benchmarks you can create new ones and modify as many of Preqin's existing benchmarks as you like. Find out how by requesting a demo.

Compare funds and develop unique insights

Custom benchmarks enable you to generate unique insights, extract invaluable benchmark data, and make comparisons across a wide spectrum of performance metrics.

Choose funds from a unique sample to create a custom benchmark – comparing your fund's performance to a niche group of competitors. Or, use our benchmark compare tool to compare multiple benchmarks at once.
Request demo

Methodology

Market Benchmark searches can be made based on a fund's vintage, investment strategy, and geographic focus.

Within each benchmark group, performance metrics of called-up, distributed, unrealized value, multiples, and net IRRs are calculated for the following:
• Median – the middle value from an ordered set of a specific benchmark grouping (for each performance metric).
• Average – the mean net IRR is taken from a specific benchmark grouping to calculate the average fund performance metrics.
• Pooled – accounts for the timings of calls/ distributions; aggregates cash flows of constituent funds and calculates resultant net IRRs.
• Weighted – takes the performance ratios of each individual fund and calculates a weighted average using the size of each fund.

Within each benchmark, funds are assigned a Quartile Ranking – an easy indicator of how a fund is performing relative to other constituents in the benchmark group. The ranking applies to funds that are included in our ‘most up-to-date’ range, i.e., have reported data within the past 5 quarters.

Both the multiple and net IRR rankings of each constituent fund are used to determine the fund’s overall quartile rank with equal weighting. If one of the two metrics is unknown, its ranking is estimated based on the known metric’s ranking. In instances where the sample size is too small for a specific benchmark group, the fund will be compared to a broader category.

For more information download Preqin's Private Capital Performance Data Guide
Constituent Funds
✖
What are they?
What can you analyze?
Methodology

See the constituent funds behind the benchmarks

Easily decide how relevant a benchmark is based on the funds within it.

Find out how to to make the most of Preqin benchmarks and benchmarking tools:
Request demo

Transparent benchmarks you can't find anywhere else

With a Pro subscription you can simply click on the constituent funds in a benchmark to delve deeper into fund profiles. You can even go one step further by comparing multiple benchmarks.

We disclose the reporting sources of each fund performance entry – so you can be assured of the data quality.
Request demo

Methodology

Constituent funds list all the funds that contribute to the benchmark return. To avoid benchmarks being weighted by a single fund, only one share class per fund appears in any one benchmark, and only one fund or share class per masterfeeder structure can appear in any one benchmark. Consequently, constituent fund lists are smaller than the number of funds for which returns are available for a particular period. Contributing funds and share classes are chosen based on set criteria, with those with the longest track record prioritized.
Benchmark compare
✖
What are they?
What can you analyse?

Compare multiple benchmarks' relative performance

Evaluate the performance of any private capital fund against multiple benchmarks side-by-side.

Discover how you can best define an appropriate peer group and evaluate your performance in the wider market by requesting a demo.

Create more persuasive, data-driven reports and presentations

Benchmark Compare allows you to not only evaluate one benchmark at a time, but to compare any choice of funds in the market and custom benchmarks side-by-side.

Easily create a report and download your analysis into a range of formats.
Request demo
Risk Return Analysis
✖
What are they?
What can you analyze?
Methodology

Visualize the risk-return profiles of private capital benchmarks

Analyze and compare the risk-return profile of different strategies with ease, and create customized visualizations for presentations.

Find out how you can visually compare the risk-return profiles of single and multi-year benchmarks in an intuitive format by requesting a demo.
Request demo

Get a competitive edge with risk-return analysis

With risk return analysis:

  • Investors can compare the risk-return profile of different strategies to make best allocation decisions.
  • Service providers can advise clients on the risk-return relationship of private capital investments and determine suitable investment decisions.
  • Fund managers can support fund marketing by illustrating how a fund type's risk-return profile compares with others.
Request demo

Methodology

Single-year benchmarks:

Compare funds that share a single vintage year, e.g. Buyout - North America – 2010.

• Return: median net IRR of constituent funds
• Risk: standard deviation of net IRR of constituent funds
• Market capitalization (bubble size): sum of total capital raised by constituent funds

Multi-year benchmarks:

Compare funds within a range of vintage years, e.g. Buyout - North America – 2010-2015.

• Return: median net IRR of all constituent funds within selected parameters (taken as a single group)
• Risk: standard deviation of all constituent funds within selected parameters (taken as a single group)
• Market capitalization (bubble size): sum of total capital raised by all constituent funds within selected parameters
J-Curve & Cash Flow Pacing Benchmarks
✖
What are they?
What can you analyze?
Methodology

Analyze the J-curve trajectory and cash flow momentum of benchmark groups

Access reliable track records of cash flow pacing behavior and return trajectories to enhance your allocation decision-making.

Discover how this feature can support your due dilligence by requesting a demo.

Enhance your due diligence with comprehensive benchmarks

Understand how much and how quickly capital is typically called and returned for a particular strategy or fund manager to:

  • Contextualize a fund manager's cash flow behavior
  • Understand the evolution of historical returns for each benchmark in detail
  • Support evaluation to determine the suitability of your portfolio's expected cash flow schedule
  • Compare capital pacing trends against peers
Request demo

Methodology

J-curve methodology

The J-curve is an illustrative representation of the net cash flow for a hypothetical $10mn commitment investor in a closed-end fund benchmark strategy. The J-curve uses median called capital, median distributed capital, and median net cash flow metrics derived from benchmark constituents’ cash flow data. The plotted medians by years since inception provide historical year-by-year insight into capital call rates, distribution rates, and resulting net capital flows.
PME's & Direct Alpha
✖
What are they?
What can you analyze?
Methodology

Incorporate PME data into your benchmarking and fund performance analysis

Use Public Market Equivalent metrics (PMEs) to benchmark the performance of a fund or a group of funds against an appropriate public market index, while accounting for the timing of fund cash flows.

Identify and connect with top-performing managers using direct alpha methodology in Preqin Pro. This additional tool extends beyond whichever benchmark an investor chooses.

See how you can place your portfolio in the context of the broader market by requesting a demo.

Contextualize your portfolio in the broader market

Compare private capital returns against seven public market indices using a choice of four PME methodologies: Kaplan-Schoar PME, Long-Nickels PME, PME+, and Direct Alpha. All the methodologies utilize the since-inception cash flow data Preqin holds for over 6,000 funds.

Make full use of horizon IRRs, custom benchmarks, PMEs, and risk-return analysis with a Preqin subscription.
Request demo

Methodology

Preqin Pro has four methodologies for you to choose from:

1. Direct Alpha
2. Kaplan-Schoar PME (KS-PME)
3. Long-Nickels PME (LN-PME)
4. PME+

Within these methodologies you have the option to compare against a list of indices. These include: S&P 500, Russell 2000, Russell 3000, MSCI Emerging Markets, MSCI Europe Standard, MSCI US REIT, and the MSCI World indices.

It is important to note that we use total return market indices as these re-invest dividends back into the index, in the same way an investor would redirect its distributions from private equity funds into other investments.
PrEQIn Quarterly Indexes
✖
What are they?
What can you analyze?
Methodology

Compare private equity returns with other asset classes and indices

The PrEQIn - Private Capital Quarterly Index captures the average return earned by investors in their private capital portfolios. This is based on the actual amount of money invested in private capital partnerships.

Compare private equity returns with other asset classes to better inform your asset allocation strategy by requesting a demo.
Request demo

Enhance asset allocation and customize quarterly indices

Compare private equity performance with other asset classes and private equity fund types using an index specifically designed to meet investors' needs.

As well as the main private equity fund types,various PrEQIn indices are available, including buyout fund size, venture capital investment stage, and fund performance quartile. More granular indices are also available, subject to custom filters.
Request demo

Methodology

NAV: Net asset value in USD.

Called during Quarter: Total capital drawn by fund managers in USD during the quarter, meaning the cumulative cash called to date as of the end of the quarter minus the cumulative cash called to date as of the start of the quarter.

Distributions during Quarter: Total capital distributed to LPs in USD during the quarter, meaning the cumulative cash distributed to date as of the end of the quarter minus the cumulative cash distributed to date as of the start of the quarter.

Each data point is individually calculated from the pool of closed-end funds for which comprehensive performance data is held, as of both the start and end of the quarter.

Historical data points are not recalculated as time passes, and so the universe of funds for each quarterly point changes over time as funds enter/exit quarterly calculations.
Horizon IRR's
✖
What are they?
What can you analyze?
Methodology

Review performance of a fund strategy or geographic focus over time

Use horizon IRRs to measure the momentum in a fund or your portfolio. Compare a fund's horizon IRR with its inception IRR to determine the impact of a defined time period on the fund's performance.

See our benchmarks and tools in action by requesting a demo.

Analyze private equity horizon returns by fund type

Compare the over- or under-performance of private equity funds to public market indices, such as the S&P 500 TR and the Russell 2000 TR.

Preqin uses quarterly cash flow data for over 6,000 individual funds to calculate horizon IRRs for a range of timeframes.
Request demo

Methodology

Preqin calculates horizon IRRs using cash flow data for over 6,000 private capital funds. For a fund to be included in the sample for a given time horizon, it must be active at the start and the end of the period, i.e., have an unrealized value reported at both start and end dates. The IRRs are calculated using:

• The fund’s net asset value (NAV) at the start of the period as a negative outflow.
• LP contributions as a negative outflow (treated as the initial investment).
• Distributions as a positive inflow.
• The fund’s NAV at the end of the period as a positive number.

The horizon IRRs are capital weighted, i.e., larger funds have more of an impact on the overall calculation.
GP Curated Benchmarks
✖
What are they?
What can you analyze?
Methodology

Create your own custom benchmark for your fund profile

Curate a custom group of peers that your funds' performance can be compared against, with the ability to add commentary to the data you publish on your profile.

Request a demo to learn how you can control how your data is interpreted and add context to your fund profile with additional benchmarks in Pro.

Showcase your funds' performance in customized context

Tell the story behind your fund and performance data to ensure LPs viewing your profile understand the context behind your figures.
Request demo

Methodology

Contact us to request your GP-curated benchmark. Once you have supplied your data it will be reviewed by our experts before the benchmark is published.
Asset-Level Benchmarks
✖
What are they?
Methodology

Power data-driven investment decisions

Preqin's asset-level benchmarks comprise Deal Performance and Valuation Multiples Benchmarks.

Deal Performance Benchmarks

Go beyond fund performance and evaluate a manager’s deal track record by comparing the performance of their investments against similar deals. Gain insight into asset allocation strategy by benchmarking the performance of underlying exposures at the sector, region, and investment type level.

Valuation Multiples Benchmarks

Preqin’s Valuation Multiples Benchmarks offer data coverage of 15-25% of all-time buyout deals in Europe and North America (after 2010). Our Valuation Multiples Benchmarks assist with identifying comparable assets and determining their market value more accurately. With our benchmarks, investors can evaluate trends in asset pricing by sector, geography, EV ranges, and deal years. Investors can also benchmark EV valuation multiples against relevant peer groups for Buyout deals, segmented by sectors, EV ranges, and more. They can also view the distribution of EV/EBITDA, EV/Revenue, and Net Debt/EBITDA.
Request a demo

Methodology

Data Sourcing:

Preqin derives aggregated and anonymized data from GP-reported portfolio data to create the most up to date, reliable and complete asset-level benchmarks available on the market. We adhere to the highest standards of data integrity, quality, and security. We only have access to aggregated and anonymized cashflows and company financials data points which are extracted through an agreement that Colmore has with their clients through the use of their services.

Data Privacy:

Our clients' privacy is important to us. Colmore never discloses client data, and only aggregated benchmarks are shared with Preqin. Preqin can only use the anonymized and aggregated data to build asset-level benchmarks.

Aggregation:

We use different data groups to segment our benchmarks to provide the highest granularity possible without disclosing constituents. Colmore ensures that any use or reference to any fund or company data statistics is in an anonymized and/or aggregated form and does not make the individual fund or portfolio company identifiable by Preqin or third parties by ensuring that minimum size thresholds for benchmark universes are maintained. Preqin’s asset-level benchmarks are segmented into 58 industries, 120 countries, deal sizes, deal vintage year, and many more.

How can we help you?

Preqin Pro

Access the industry’s most comprehensive private capital and hedge fund datasets and analytics tools.
Request demo

Insights

Stay on top of the latest developments in alternatives with exclusive industry reports, publications and statistics.
Create a free account

Contact us

Let us know how we can help – we’re here to answer any questions you might have.
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