Performance of Private Equity Real Estate Funds

"The study will investigate the performance of private equity real estate funds. Using a large global sample of value_added and opportunistic private real estate funds, we study the fund and sponsor related factorsí correlation with fund performance. These factors include the size of the fund, the size and maturity of the fund manager and the number of predecessor funds raised by the fund manager. We will also try to identify trends in fund performance and the growth of the fund sizes as well as the timing of the fundraising. While private equity real estate investing should be countercyclical, the fundraising is typically positively correlated with the performance of the underlying investment marketsí returns i.e. more and larger funds have been raised during times when property prices have already increased while the level of fundraising has dropped after falls in capital values. The best performing vintages have thus been those raised during times of distress and limited competition. Evidence from private equity buy_out funds has also shown that better performing fund managers are likely to raise follow_on funds and often larger funds than poorly performing fund managers. There is also evidence that top performing funds do not grow proportionally as much as the average funds according to Kaplan and Schoar (2003). As many institutional investors have special programs to invest with first time managers or so called emerging fund managers, we also seek further evidence on how the performance of real estate funds has emerged from the first time fund to successor funds and are the same findings true in real estate funds that are previously reported in buy_out funds.""