Cambridge Associates related stories
All articles and analysis
Learning to Surf – The Ebb and Flow that Propels VC ReturnsVCs need to invest in more capital-light Internet companies. No, VCs should be investing larger sums in capital-heavy cleantech companies. Wait, VCs need to evolve and re-invent themselves. Scratch that—VCs need to get “back to basics,” working their craft at a wooden hobby bench like Santa’s little helpers. Thin the herd: Ship half of the VCs to Algeria to ensure success for the rest... Popular prescriptions to cure such VC market schizophrenia almost always include at least one glaring omission: Context. So many discussions of venture's ails consider the industry in isolation, exclusively from the practitioner’s perspective. It’s as if an individual investor reviewed their brokerage statements over the past two decades and concluded: “I sure was a better stock picker in the late 1990s.” The truth is VC’s success is connected and correlated to global financial markets and flows of institutional capital.
- Prices Soar In Cash-Rich Deal Market
The return of debt financing and the rabid desire among buyout shops to put capital to work are pushing deal valuations to levels much higher than many industry participants would have expected at this point in the economic cycle.
- peHUB Wire: Friday, June 18, 2010
Random Ramblings
- peHUB Wire: Friday, June 18, 2010
Random Ramblings
- This Ain't Your Daddy's Post-Recession
I recently accused /62413/cognitive-dissonance-meets-pe-fundraising/ limited partners of cognitive dissonance; refusing to invest (much) this year despite acknowledging that the best returns are borne of recessions. But perhaps I was too harsh. Too hasty. Perhaps LPs are sitting on their hands because they recognize that this post-recession is different. Private equity firms typically generate out-sized returns from post-recessionary markets because there is an abundance of bargains, which can be easily exploited. Buy low, sell high. This year, however, valuations rebounded much faster and stronger than anyone expected. So much so, in fact, that some PE pros are concerned that they're trapped inside of a mini-bubble.
- Private Equity has an overhang problem
So says Andrea Auerbach at SuperReturn
- peHUB Wire: Friday, June 4, 2010
Random Ramblings
- peHUB Wire: Friday, June 4, 2010
Random Ramblings
- Private Equity is Overhung
For every private equity firm running low on uncommitted capital, there apparently are dozens that have dry powder pouring out of their pockets. That was the message yesterday from Andrea Auerbach, a managing director with Cambridge Associates, in a presentation at the SuperReturn US conference. She said that Cambridge puts the current private equity overhang at approximately $425 billion, which is 3.5x higher than the overhang at this time in 2000. Moreover, that mammoth figure represents 54% of all capital commitments made between 2004 and 2009. Over 85% of the $425 billion is in funds larger than $1 billion, including 48% in funds larger than $5 billion.
- peHUB Wire: Thursday, June 3, 2010
Random Ramblings