Sharpe Ratios for various PE and VC strategies?

Does anyone know where to find a long term, up to date list of these stats?

Specifically I am looking for the Sharpe ratios of:
-US LBO funds
-US VC funds
-US growth equity funds

I have found all US PE stats from morningstar but it ended in 06.
I am not sure if this specific info exists out there for free....

Thanks!

Edit: Im starting to think that this is because there isnt enough observable data to produce figures up to date???

9 Comments
 

The way I understand the sharpe ratio is that it uses standard deviation as the risk variable, which does not need an observable market, only observable historic returns so in this case IRR.

S=risk premium/st dev

I may be mistaken but I think this is possible.

"Life all comes down to a few moments. This is one of them."
 

Can't tell if srs...

It's standard deviation of returns. In order to calculate that you need observable periodic returns, whether, daily, monthly, quarterly, etc. PE funds don't have that (or are pure BS figures) because the companies don't change hands every month at a price set between two or more independent parties.

Standard deviation is the exact same thing as volatility.

To be clear: Sharpe ratios can not be calculated on PE funds, unless you just make up a std dev for the fund.

 

I was going to use the quarterly IRR returns to calculate st dev. I have that via Cambridge Associates.

I realize that what they don't change hands so there is no price discovery via a continuous market.... the valuation of the underlying assets is at the discretion of the fund managers which I agree could be BS.

I am simply trying to compare asset classes

"Life all comes down to a few moments. This is one of them."
 
Best Response

That will massively understate the volatility figure, inflate the Sharpe ratio, and make comparisons to other asset classes useless. You would be better off using some vol figure that's higher than the S&P 500. Say it's 1.25 or 1.5 X as volatile as the S&P, people can disagree on what exact figure to use, but PE would clearly be more volatile than most public equities because of the leverage they use.

As a side note, I think the quarterly IRR figure will overstate returns that PE investors experience because PE funds are somewhat able to time the market as they can control when they sell investments. But as an investor with money, you need to be invested in something at all times, even if that something is cash.

 

Quas eveniet praesentium sit. Culpa consectetur voluptate illo fuga maiores excepturi. Nemo occaecati non eaque. Et ea necessitatibus voluptatibus ratione ea labore. Modi officia qui nesciunt nisi minima.

Nemo sit accusantium accusamus voluptatum minus quibusdam id alias. Earum quasi delectus dolorum. Id rerum nihil mollitia dolores praesentium ducimus. Eos quis tempora laborum consequatur deserunt ut. Qui voluptas consequatur dignissimos neque. Veritatis dolore rerum culpa aut ab libero. Quo esse quod pariatur id.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
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...”