| Type | private company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2002 |
| Headquarters | London New York City Singapore |
| Key people | Mark O'Hare |
| Products | Research |
| Employees | 95 |
| Website | www.preqin.com |
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[1] and data for the alternative assets industry, and receives numerous mentions in press around the world on a daily basis.[2]
Contents |
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.[3] 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, 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.
Aside from its subscription services and publications, Preqin releases research on a number of different topics that are used throughout the alternative assets industry.
Preqin releases quarterly fundraising data for the private equity industry,[4] real estate industry,[5] and infrastructure industry[6] showing how much capital has been raised by how many funds. In addition it also releases information for fundraising on specific topics.[7] 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.[8][9] 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.[10]
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.[11] In November 2008, it released data showing the performance of fund interests sold by CalPERS in one of the largest secondaries sales in history.[12] 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.[13][14]
Preqin carries out surveys to investors to establish trends in the industry. In 2008, it revealed that many investors were pulling money out of buyout funds in order to increase their exposure to distressed debt funds.[15]
Preqin releases information quarterly, regarding investors in hedge funds. In 2010, it found that 46% of institutional investors in hedge funds were considering increasing their allocations to the asset class in the next three to five years.[16]
Preqin releases its free research via its monthly [17] newsletters. These are sent out on a monthly basis to subscribers via pdf. Current circulation of Spotlight newsletters and Preqin research is in excess of 45,000. Subscription is free on Preqin's website. Preqin also maintains a database of past [18] papers, which is also available on its website.