Private Equity Returns: It's All About Alpha

Private equity (PE) firms have worked hard since the 2008 market meltdown to spruce up beaten-down assets they had paid dearly for at the top of the PE cycle and extract far more value than most of their limited partners (LPs) and outside observers expected. But they also got a big boost from a warming economic climate, strengthening public equity and debt markets, and other favorable external factors beyond their direct control to help push up valuations. In the yin-yang dance between market be...