私人股本和战略资产配置[文献翻译]VIP专享VIP免费

原文：PrivateEquityandStrategicAssetAllocationPrivateequityisbothanassetclassandaninvestmentstrategy.Distinguishingbetweentheprivateequityassetclassandtheprivateequityinvestmentstrategycanbeconfusingandcreateschallengesforthetraditionalapproachtoassetallocation.Assetallocationdecisionsshouldbebasedontheriskandreturncharacteristicsoftheassetclass,althoughinreality,mostprivateequitydecisionsarebasedontheperceivedriskandreturncharactersoftheavailableprivateequityvehicles.Publiccompaniescollectivelyformthepublicequityassetclass.Investorscangainexposuretothepublicequityassetclassbypurchasingsharesofpubliclytradedcompaniesorsharesofinvestmentvehicles,suchasmutualfunds,thatpurchasethepublicshares.Private(non-public)companiescollectivelyformtheprivateequityassetclass.Investorscangainexposuretotheprivateequityassetclassbypurchasingsharesofprivatelyheldcompaniesorsharesofinvestmentvehicles,suchasprivateequityfunds,thatpurchasethenon-publicshares.Alargenumberofprivatecorporationsaregenerallyassumedtobepubliccorporations,includingDunkinDonuts,Hertz,Linens-N-Things,Neiman-Marcus,andToys-R-Us.Commonreasonsforbeingprivateincludefamilyownedbusinessesthathavealwaysbeenprivate,leveragebuyouts,andventurestart-upsstillwaitingtogopublic.Fromamodernportfolioperspective,ideally,onecouldinvestinabasketofallprivatecorporationsinwhichtheweightsofthecompaniesinthebasketarebasedontheirtruevalues.Suchabasketwithreal-timepricingwouldincludethousandsofconstituentsandwouldbeatruerepresentationoftheprivateequityassetclass.Insuchaworld,allvalue-weightedbenchmarkswouldleadtoverysimilarconclusionsontheperformanceoftheassetclass.Unfortunately,thisisnotpossibleand,philosophically,nothowmostpeopleconceptualizeaprivateequityinvestment.Wheninvestorsmakeanallocationtoprivateequity,itisnotapassiveinvestmentinthebasketofall(ormost)privatecompaniesthatformtheprivateequityassetclass.Rather,formostinvestors,theallocationtoprivateequityisaninvestmentinaskill-basedstrategy,inwhichthetwoprimarysub-strategiesareleveragedbuyoutsandventurecapital.Onecancarryoutsuchstrategiesdirectlyorthroughaninvestmentvehiclethatcarriesouttheinvestmentsontheirbehalf.Twoprimaryinvestment5vehiclesareengagedinthesestrategies–traditionalprivateequityfundsandpubliclylistedcompanies.Traditionalprivateequityfundsaretypicallypureplaysintheprivateequitystrategies,whilepubliclylistedcompaniesofferaspectrumofprivateequity-likeexposure.Mostprivateequityfundsareorganizedaslimitedpartnershipswithafinitelife(e.g.10years).Thelimitedpartnersinvestin(orcommitcapitalto)thefundswhicharethenmanagedbythegeneralpartners.Theindustryappearstobemovingtowardthecreationofmoreperpetualinvestmentvehicles.Ifoneassumesthattraditionalprivateequityfundsandpubliclylistedcompaniesengagedinprivateequitystrategiesownalloftheprivatecompanies,thecollectiveperformanceassociatedwiththeseinvestmentswouldperfectlymatchtheperformanceofabasketofallprivatecompaniesrepresentingtheprivateequityassetclass.Theimplicationisthattheweightedaverageperformanceofprivateequityfundswouldbethesameastheinvestmentintheprivateequityassetclass.Onanassetweighted-basis,halfoftheinvestorswilldobetterandhalfwilldoworsethantheassetclassasa6whole.Thisreturnrelationshipisstraightforward,butnotalwaysrecognized.Unlikethestraightforwardreturnrelationship,theriskrelationshipbetweentheassetclassandtheinvestment...