The State Street Private Equity Index (SSPEI) posted its second highest quarterly return in the past two years at 4.35 per cent return in the fourth quarter of 2019, up from the 0.82 per cent return in Q3 2019. Venture Capital funds rallied 5.68 per cent after last quarter’s decline of -0.05 per cent return, followed by 4.24 per cent return from Buyout funds and 2.43 per cent return from Private Debt funds.
“Private Equity performance rebounded in Q4 and scored a respectable 14.22 per cent annualised return for 2019. The total capital raised in 2019 also surpassed the previous peak in 2007”
The SSPEI is based on directly-sourced limited partnership data and represents more than USD3 trillion in private equity investments, with more than 3,100 unique private equity partnerships, as of December 31, 2019.
“Private Equity performance rebounded in Q4 and scored a respectable 14.22 per cent annualised return for 2019. The total capital raised in 2019 also surpassed the previous peak in 2007,” says Will Kinlaw, head of State Street Associates, a division of State Street Global Markets. “Certainly, the environment has changed considerably since the beginning of 2020 and it will take several months for us to better understand the impact of the global pandemic on private equity. The private equity cash flows that we are tracking up to March 2020 are showing clear signs of stress. The distribution rate in the first three months of 2020 is sitting at its lowest level in a decade.”
