Preqin
Encyclopedia
Preqin is a research and consultancy firm focusing on alternative asset
classes. The company covers private equity
, real estate
, infrastructure
, and hedge funds and is headquartered in London, UK, with additional offices in New York and Singapore. Preqin maintains a number of publications and online databases. It is a source of news and data for the alternative assets industry, and receives numerous mentions in press around the world on a daily basis.
Preqin extended its scope to include real estate in 2006, to hedge fund investors in 2007, and to infrastructure in 2008. As a result of the change in focus from private equity to all alternative assets, the company changed its name to became formally known as Preqin in 2008.
Within its three main areas of focus—private equity
, real estate
, and infrastructure
—Preqin publishes information on private equity funds including fund performance, fund terms and conditions, fund manager profiles
and fund of funds
as well fundraising and information on institutional investors. Preqin also publishes information on hedge funds, fund of hedge funds, and institutional investors.
in one of the largest secondaries sales in history. It regularly releases information relating to dry powder—the amount of capital that has been committed but remains uncalled to private equity funds. This is used as an indication for how much cash private equity firms have to deploy for new investments in companies.
Alternative asset
An alternative asset is a newer type of asset that has not been traditionally considered part of an investment portfolio. Historically, examples include real estate, commodities, as well as rare coins and stamps, artwork or trading cards...
classes. The company covers private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
, real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
, infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
, and hedge funds and is headquartered in London, UK, with additional offices in New York and Singapore. Preqin maintains a number of publications and online databases. It is a source of news and data for the alternative assets industry, and receives numerous mentions in press around the world on a daily basis.
Company history
Preqin traces its roots back to 2002, when the company was launched with the name Private Equity Intelligence. It was founded by Nick Arnott and Mark O'Hare. Private equity represented the sole area of focus for the company at the time. The first product launched by the firm was Performance Analyst, which uses the Freedom of Information Act legislation in the UK and US to gain performance data on private equity fund performance from public pension plans. This made it possible to view fund performance data for thousands of private equity vehicles at the fund level. Other products providing a list of fund managers on the road seeking capital and a database of institutional investors active in private equity soon followed.Preqin extended its scope to include real estate in 2006, to hedge fund investors in 2007, and to infrastructure in 2008. As a result of the change in focus from private equity to all alternative assets, the company changed its name to became formally known as Preqin in 2008.
Within its three main areas of focus—private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
, real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
, and infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
—Preqin publishes information on private equity funds including fund performance, fund terms and conditions, fund manager profiles
Private equity firm
A private equity firm is an investment manager that makes investments in the private equity of operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leveraged buyout, venture capital, and growth capital...
and fund of funds
Fund of funds
A "fund of funds" is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in shares, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment...
as well fundraising and information on institutional investors. Preqin also publishes information on hedge funds, fund of hedge funds, and institutional investors.
Research
Aside from its subscription services and publications, Preqin releases research on a number of different topics that are used throughout the alternative assets industry.Quarterly Fundraising
Preqin releases quarterly fundraising data for the private equity industry, real estate industry, and infrastructure industry showing how much capital has been raised by how many funds. In addition it also releases information for fundraising on specific topics. Preqin's fundraising statistics account for funds on a global scale, and are widely used throughout the alternatives industry and in the financial press as a barometer for investor appetite. Preqin also releases figures for the number of funds currently on the road seeking capital at any time. These figures give an indication of how congested the private equity market is at any given time—whether there are enough funds on the road to satisfy investor demand, or too many funds causing increased competition.Performance Research
Preqin uses its database of information related to performance on unlisted vehicles to release research on performance data, both generally and specifically on topics in the news. In November 2008, it released data showing the performance of fund interests sold by CalPERSCalPERS
The California Public Employees' Retirement System or CalPERS is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.6 million California public employees, retirees, and their families"...
in one of the largest secondaries sales in history. It regularly releases information relating to dry powder—the amount of capital that has been committed but remains uncalled to private equity funds. This is used as an indication for how much cash private equity firms have to deploy for new investments in companies.