Private equity may be getting pummeled on the US presidential election campaign trail, but the deal scene is boiling. Forbes ranks the biggest players not just by their war chests—and reputations—but also by the ultimate criterion: Successful exits delivered for investors
AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME
For Forbes’ first-ever rankings of private equity professionals, we used four overarching, equally weighted criteria: Strength of the firm overall, results of recent exits, performance of the individual within that firm and overall individual reputation. The firm strength was based on the amount of funds raised over the past five years, as calculated by Private Equity International, and the percentage of a firm’s funds in the top quartile of its peers, as supplied by marketing research firm Preqin. The number and value of exits, since 2010, came via PitchBook, as well as S&P Cap IQ, which also provided exit multiples. That latter database, along with proprietary reporting, indicated which partners were associated with which deals, and we also looked at how much partners at publicly traded firms made, based on SEC data. Finally, recognising that many figureheads help generate deal flow through their name and contacts, we factored in a more subjective quality we’ll call reputation. We consulted many private equity professionals in putting this list together, notably Mei-Mei Tuan with Notch Partners, a Millburn, New Jersey private equity recruiting consultant.
FUELLING THE FRACKING BOOM
(This story appears in the 09 November, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)