Key Takeaways
- • S&P Global is developing, with pension consultants Cambridge Associates and Mercer, a joint software offering to help institutional investors judge the performance of private-equity and other private funds and their managers.
- • The forthcoming tool is designed to filter data on fund performance, the deals funds complete, and the status of ongoing fundraising processes, according to S&P.
- • Publisher materials describe the product as Private Markets Performance Analytics, with datasets intended to let investors compare performance across similar funds.
- • The initiative extends S&P Global's push into private markets, which it says draws on 50 years of industry leadership and specialized expertise.
Summary
S&P Global, the provider of financial benchmarks including the S&P 500 index, is preparing to offer software aimed at helping investors evaluate private-equity and other private funds as well as the managers who run them, according to a Wall Street Journal exclusive. The product is being built with Cambridge Associates and Mercer, two private-market gatekeepers that advise institutional investors, and is intended to ease comparisons of fund and manager performance.
According to S&P, the collaboration has produced a more detailed method of filtering data on private fund performance, the transactions those funds execute, and the status of their ongoing fundraising. The approach is meant to give institutional investors a more granular basis for comparing funds, which have historically been harder to benchmark than publicly traded securities because of limited and irregular disclosure.
Publisher materials describe the offering as Private Markets Performance Analytics, combining Mercer's investment expertise, S&P Global's data and analytics capabilities, and Cambridge Associates' private-markets knowledge. S&P Global has characterized the work as part of its ongoing commitment to a comprehensive suite of private-markets solutions. One company announcement describes new private-markets performance datasets launched in partnership with Cambridge Associates and Mercer, with S&P Global citing 50 years of leadership and deep industry relationships in the asset class.
The arrangement is notable for bringing together two rival consultants with a data provider. Its commercial terms, launch timing and pricing were not detailed in the available reporting.
According to S&P, the collaboration has produced a more detailed method of filtering data on private fund performance, the transactions those funds execute, and the status of their ongoing fundraising. The approach is meant to give institutional investors a more granular basis for comparing funds, which have historically been harder to benchmark than publicly traded securities because of limited and irregular disclosure.
Publisher materials describe the offering as Private Markets Performance Analytics, combining Mercer's investment expertise, S&P Global's data and analytics capabilities, and Cambridge Associates' private-markets knowledge. S&P Global has characterized the work as part of its ongoing commitment to a comprehensive suite of private-markets solutions. One company announcement describes new private-markets performance datasets launched in partnership with Cambridge Associates and Mercer, with S&P Global citing 50 years of leadership and deep industry relationships in the asset class.
The arrangement is notable for bringing together two rival consultants with a data provider. Its commercial terms, launch timing and pricing were not detailed in the available reporting.
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