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Has Persistence Persisted in Private Equity? Evidence from Buyout and Venture Capital Funds

Author

Listed:
  • Robert S. Harris
  • Tim Jenkinson
  • Steven N. Kaplan
  • Ruediger Stucke

Abstract

We present new evidence on the persistence of U.S. private equity (buyout and venture capital) funds using cash-flow data sourced from Burgiss’s large sample of institutional investors. Previous research, studying largely pre-2000 data, finds strong persistence for both buyout and venture capital (VC) firms. Using ex post or most recent fund performance (as of June2019), we confirm the previous findings on persistence overall as well as for pre-2001 and post-2000 funds. However, when we look at the information an investor would actually have – previous fund performance at the time of fundraising rather than final performance – we find little or no evidence of persistence for buyouts, both overall and post-2000. For post-2000 buyouts, the conventional wisdom to invest in previously top quartile funds does not hold. Using previous fund PME at fundraising, we find modest persistence, but it is driven by bottom, not top quartile performance. On the other hand, persistence for VC funds persists even when using information available at the time of fundraising. Therefore, the conventional wisdom of investors holds for VC.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert S. Harris & Tim Jenkinson & Steven N. Kaplan & Ruediger Stucke, 2020. "Has Persistence Persisted in Private Equity? Evidence from Buyout and Venture Capital Funds," NBER Working Papers 28109, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28109
    Note: CF
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    Cited by:

    1. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Gil-Alana, Luis Alberiko & Puertolas, Francisco, 2024. "Modelling profitability of private equity: A fractional integration approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    2. Michael Ewens & Joan Farre-Mensa, 2022. "Private or Public Equity? The Evolving Entrepreneurial Finance Landscape," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 271-293, November.
    3. Lerner, Josh & Mao, Jason & Schoar, Antoinette & Zhang, Nan R., 2022. "Investing outside the box: Evidence from alternative vehicles in private equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 359-380.
    4. repec:osf:socarx:9am4w_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Luis Alberiko Gil-Alana & Francisco Puertolas-Montanes, 2023. "Profitability of private equity: mean reversion and transitory shocks," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 47(2), pages 458-471, June.
    6. Hyunsun Kim-Hahm, 2023. "Computational approach to studying media coverage of organizations," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 561-587, October.
    7. William H. Janeway & Ramana Nanda & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, 2021. "Venture Capital Booms and Start-Up Financing," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 111-127, November.
    8. Schwandtner, Nohl J. & Smith, David M., 2025. "The performance of active equity funds that incorporate venture capital," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage

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