Private equity returned 5.1% for the quarter and 17.2% for the year ended Sept. 30, while venture capital earned 6.5% and 15.1%, respectively, during the same time periods, mostly underperforming the public markets, according to data released Wednesday by Cambridge Associates.
By comparison, the S&P 500 return was 5.2% for the quarter and 19.3% for the year and the Russell 2000 Composite was 10.2% for the quarter and 30.1% for the year ended Sept. 30.
Private equity and venture capital returns were higher than the prior quarter, by about two percentage points each. Private equity returned 3% and venture capital, 4.3%, for the quarter ended June 30. Private equity was up 15.6% for the year, and venture capital returned 8.9% also for the year ended June 30.
Some 80% of the private equity index was made up of funds raised in the five years from 2004 through 2008. Funds raised in 2005 generated the highest quarterly return of 6.2%.
The top-performing venture capital vintage years were 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010, representing 76.7% of the index. Of these vintage years, funds raised in 2007 earned the most with a 10% quarterly return.
