Private Equity Performance, Fund Size and Historical Investment

This paper discusses the performance pattern of US private equity fund from 2003 to 2013, measuring the effect of fund size and other fund characteristics as well as macroeconomic conditions on fund performance. The results shows that the number of historical investment decisively influences the performance of funds, and funds whose inception is at the peak of economic expansion seem to perform worse than those formed during other economic periods. Fund size effect is ambiguous in full sample specifications but appears to be concave with respect to return when we look at this relationship in segmentation. Overall, experience of investment plays an important role in continually improving the performance of the fund. More details of each investment within each fund are needed to further analyze the causality between fund total return, its investment characteristics and other unique factors.