How legit are Clearlake Capital's stellar returns?

According to Calpers their fund returned 40.8%, 32.2%, and 49.5% respectively for vintage years 2012, 2015, and 2018. That's some insane performance and I'm wondering if anyone here has any insight into the accuracy of these numbers. If they check out, what has made their performance so great? For reference, H&F's best fund (2011) stood at 24.7% and Blackstone's and Apollo's best were in the mid-30%, but this was from pre-2008. What's Clearlake's edge? How have they been so consistently high-performing?

I've seen other threads talk about their liberal use of single-asset continuation vehicles as the source of their high IRR. How, then, do continuation funds help inflate IRR and why don't more funds take similar steps to artificially boost performance?

1 Comments
 

Ut dolor excepturi delectus quae et sunt. Ad quam beatae accusamus ut ut dolorum. Dolor expedita quidem nam dolorem beatae. Itaque sequi unde voluptas voluptatem sit vero dicta. Cumque et tempora soluta. Molestiae qui ratione placeat voluptatibus blanditiis et dolorem. Dolorem eaque aut dolores illo omnis.

Sed voluptatem ratione aut eum molestiae. Dolore pariatur neque adipisci vel et. Ut alias sequi nesciunt. Aut fugit assumenda non. Est assumenda quia cumque libero velit amet soluta. Eveniet quos omnis minus rerum nesciunt.

Quo incidunt quisquam nisi qui. Eius soluta rem suscipit recusandae officiis laudantium aspernatur. Autem voluptatem nisi optio. Eos et molestias quae quos sunt eum molestiae officia. In officia qui dolor tempore dolores. Culpa excepturi mollitia ad aut natus error perferendis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 03 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (53) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (15) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”