Private Equity Returns - Ranked

Looks like Accel KKR has the best returns interestingly enough over the past couple of years. List generally makes sense - looks like each one of the funds listed here has raised progressively larger funds over the past couple of years fairly successfully. 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2022012400…

Region
15 Comments
 

Analyst 2 in IB - Cov, shame nobody has responded. Maybe one of these topics will help:

More suggestions...

If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Because we've all seen the highlights. Not much more to say besides "wow X did Y, how impressive." Few from the top firms if any are going to elaborate on what the home runs were. 

 

You may be able to use this data to look at absolute performance, but it's hard to really use information like this in order to evaluate a manager. You would probably want to look at some sort of attribution analysis that breaks down how much of the fund returns are coming from sales, how much from ebitda, multiple expansion, and debt reduction. A lot of managers have ridden the tech wave for example and made some killer returns for being in the right place at the right time. I'd be more impressed with managers who can consistently show returns coming from earnings and top-line growth vs. mostly benefitting from multiple expansion.

 

Fully agree - how would you categorize some of these GPs in your own view?

The ones that are most influenced by the Tech are in my view the Growth Equity funds (Accel-KKR, TA Associates, Vitruvian, etc.) and other Tech-focussed funds like ThomaBravo.

Appears to me that H&F, CD&R and Permira are probably among the most impressive adjusting for the factors referenced by you.

 

Why is multiple expansion not as desirable of a return? Have worked with AKKR as both a buyer and a seller and they’re very focused on optimizing for growth, improving efficiency, etc. let’s say they buy a business growing 20% at a 20% margin and sell it as a 30% grower with 30% margins - that’s not an industry tailwind improving the exit multiple, that’s called building a better business.

SaaS funds aren’t looking to pay out dividends or recap a business. Markets reward growth so they’re prioritizing that, but doesn’t mean it’s a less attractive investment thesis going forward

 

I don't understand this "performance score" at all and don't think these rankings make any sense. For example, Francisco's returns are great but from what I can see in Preqin, their returns are pretty much the same, if not slightly worse, than Thoma's and yet they're ranked far above Thoma here. Genstar hasn't been nearly as good as either of them.

As others have said, there are also several different strategies going on in this list and so there's a little bit of an apples to oranges comparison going on.

 

Commodi accusamus nesciunt quia et. Sint repellendus pariatur neque laudantium. Quos distinctio rem facilis. Iure mollitia ab aut voluptas. Iure qui dolorum praesentium adipisci ipsum quisquam. Est expedita repellat ab dolorum et sit.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.6%
  • Blackstone Group 99.3%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.9%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Private Equity

  • Blackstone Group 99.6%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.2%
  • The Riverside Company 98.9%
  • Ardian 98.5%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.3%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (99) $363
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (104) $281
  • 2nd Year Associate (235) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (411) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (97) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (272) $124
  • Intern/Summer Associate (38) $81
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (356) $61
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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
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...”