A Strong Decade for Private Markets, Led by Growth

June 17, 2021

While it has been a very strong decade for private market returns, not all private market strategies have provided the same level of risk-adjusted returns. Growth-oriented strategies like Growth, Private Equity, and Venture Capital have delivered the highest 15-year horizon IRRs and with lower standard deviation than other lower-returning strategies like Real Estate, Infrastructure, and Oil & Gas. We believe these growth areas are better positioned to generate higher IRRs within closed-ended funds given their large opportunity set, accelerated ability to deploy capital, opportunities to drive operational improvements, and ability to generate attractive exit opportunities.

Asset allocation mix is of increasing importance as investors seeking higher return potential within portfolios look to scale up their illiquid allocations. The last decade shows that not all private markets investments are equal. We believe Growth, Private Equity, and Venture Capital are likely to continue to be the most attractive strategies for investors looking to maximize the returns generated from their illiquid allocations. Manager selection also remains a critical investment decision within private markets strategies, where there is typically a wider range of performance dispersion than in more traditional public market asset classes.

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The opinions expressed herein are those of Marquette Associates, Inc. (“Marquette”), and are subject to change without notice. This material is not financial advice or an offer to purchase or sell any product. Marquette reserves the right to modify its current investment strategies and techniques based on changing market dynamics or client needs.