Learn the Lingo of Private Equity Investing

Private equity is capital invested in companies that are not publicly traded or listed on a stock exchange. Private equity funds buy public and private companies with the goal of increasing their value over several years before selling them.

These funds typically have a finite term of 10 years or more, though their average company holding period is closer to seven years. Private equity investments are illiquid; exiting them early can be difficult, and they can take years to deliver returns.

Most private equity funds typically require an investment of at least $25 million from institutions and high-net-worth individuals. However, some have dropped the minimum to as little as $25,000 for accredited investors and qualified clients.

The industry’s specialized function and complicated structure have led it to develop a professional jargon that outsiders may find hard to understand. Below, we break down the key terms.

Private Equity-Speak 101

Before discussing the ratios most commonly used in private equity, let’s review some basic terms. Some are used only in private equity, while others may be familiar depending on your exposure to alternative assets, such as hedge funds.

Limited Partners

A private equity firm’s limited partners are its clients—the investors who contribute capital and pay the management fees. They are protected from losses beyond the funds invested and from any legal actions taken against the fund or its companies.

General Partner

A general partner is an entity, typically a partnership, that manages a private equity fund and its investments. General partners typically earn management fees of 2% of fund assets as well as a share of fund profits called carried interest, often set at 20%. This is known as a “2 and 20” compensation structure. However, fees can range from 5% to 30%. General partners, in turn, can pass along a share of the carried interest they earn to the individual asset managers.

Carried Interest

Carried interest accounts for the bulk of private equity fund managers’ compensation. It is calculated as a share of fund profits, historically 20% above a threshold rate of return for limited partners.

In contrast with most other forms of employment compensation and business income, carried interest earned from fund investments held for at least three years is taxed as a long-term capital gain at a rate below the top marginal income tax rate.

Critics of the provision contend it taxes highly compensated private equity managers at a lower rate than comparably paid providers of labor or business services. Defenders of carried interest argue that taxing it as income would be unfair because it represents capital gains, even if not derived from the recipients’ capital.

Preferred Return, Clawback

Like most other alternative investments, private equity has complex compensation structures, often specifying the hurdle rate and the clawback. The hurdle rate, also known as the preferred return, is the minimum annual rate of return limited partners must earn to entitle the general partner to carried interest from fund profits. A typical hurdle rate is 8%.

The clawback provision lets limited partners recoup a portion of the carried interest collected by the general partner from past deals if subsequent losses lower their aggregate fund returns below the fund’s hurdle rate.

Committed Capital, Drawdowns, Vintages

The money committed by limited partners to a private equity fund, also known as committed capital, is usually not transferred immediately. It is provided and invested over time as investments are identified.

Drawdowns, or capital calls, are issued to limited partners when the general partner has identified a new investment and requires a portion of the limited partner’s committed capital to pay for it.

The year in which a private equity fund first draws down or calls committed capital is known as the fund’s vintage year. Paid-in capital is the cumulative amount of capital that has been drawn down. The amount of paid-in capital that has actually been invested in the fund’s portfolio companies is simply referred to as invested capital.

Cumulative Distribution

When private equity investors consider a fund’s investment track record, they need to know the amount and timing of the fund’s cumulative distributions, the total returns paid out to limited partners. 

Residual Value

Residual value is the market value of the remaining equity that the limited partners have in the fund. It is common to see a private equity fund’s net asset value, or NAV, referred to as its residual value, since it represents the value of all investments remaining in the fund portfolio. Private equity investors compare a fund’s residual value with those assets’ purchase price; any difference represents an unrealized profit or loss.

One common definition of residual value for private equity investments is the value of non-exited investments. Many private equity funds report this figure quarterly.

Private Equity Ratios

Now that we have defined the important terms, let’s move on to some financial ratios commonly used in private equity investing. Private equity funds committed to Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) include these ratios when presenting their performance to prospective investors, and they are widely used by the private equity industry.

Investment Multiple

The investment multiple is also known as the total value to paid-in (TVPI) multiple. It is calculated by dividing the fund’s cumulative distributions and residual value by the paid-in capital. It provides insight into the fund’s performance by showing its aggregate returns as a multiple of its cost basis. Because the investment multiple does not consider when the returns are distributed, it does not reflect the time value of money.

$\begin{aligned} &Investment\ Multiple\text{ } = \text{ }\frac{CD \text{ }+\text{ } RV}{Paid\text{-}in\ Capital}\\ &\textbf{where:}\\ &CD= \text{Cumulative distributions}\\ &RV= \text{Residual value}\\ \end{aligned}$​Investment Multiple = Paid–in CapitalCD + RV​where:CD=Cumulative distributionsRV=Residual value​

Realization Multiple

The realization multiple is also known as the distributions to paid-in (DPI) multiple. It is calculated by dividing a private equity fund’s cumulative distributions by its paid-in capital. In conjunction with the investment multiple, the realization multiple gives a prospective private equity investor insight into how much of the fund’s return has actually been “realized” or paid out to investors.

$Realization\ Multiple = \frac{Cumulative\ Distributions}{Paid\text{-}In\ Capital}$Realization Multiple=Paid–In CapitalCumulative Distributions​

RVPI Multiple

RVPI is the current market value of unrealized investments as a percentage of called capital. The RVPI multiple is calculated by taking the net asset value, or residual value, of the fund’s holdings and dividing it by the cash flows paid into the fund. Cash flows are representative of the capital invested, fees paid, and other expenses incurred by the fund’s limited partners.

Limited partners want to see a higher RVPI ratio, which compares the fund’s remaining value to its limited partners’ up-front capital costs. In conjunction with the investment multiple, RVPI reveals what proportion of the fund’s total prospective return remains unrealized and dependent on the market value of its investments.

$RVPI\ Multiple = \frac{Residual\ Value}{Paid\text{-}in\ Capital}$RVPI Multiple=Paid–in CapitalResidual Value​

PIC Multiple

The PIC multiple is calculated by dividing paid-in capital by committed capital. This ratio shows a potential investor the percentage of a fund’s committed capital that has been drawn down.

$PIC\ Multiple = \frac{Paid\text{-}in\ Capital}{Committed\ Capital}$PIC Multiple=Committed CapitalPaid–in Capital​

In addition to the above ratios, the fund’s internal rate of return (IRR) since inception, or SI-IRR, is a common formula potential private equity investors should recognize. The SI-IRR is simply the fund’s internal rate of return since its first investment.

New Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS)

Since 2020, GIPS guidance for private equity firms has mandated filing a standardized disclosure. It includes all the multiples covered above and the portfolio’s annualized and composite since-inception money-weighted returns.

The Bottom Line

The private equity industry’s historically strong returns have grabbed the attention of savvy investors. As the industry’s influence grows, it will become increasingly important for investors to be familiar with industry jargon. Understanding the formulas used to evaluate private equity funds will help investors make smarter financial decisions.