Preqin

Preqin
Private Company
Founded 2003
Headquarters London
New York City
Singapore
San Francisco
Key people
 Mark O'Hare
Products Research
Number of employees
 241
Website www.preqin.com

Preqin is a leading source of data and intelligence for the alternative assets industry. Operating from offices in New York, London, Singapore and San Francisco, the company provides comprehensive information on the private equity, real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds, and private debt industries, encompassing funds and fundraising, performance, fund managers, institutional investors, deals and fund terms. Preqin's data and analysis is available via online databases, publications and complimentary research reports. Leading alternative assets professionals from around the world rely on Preqin's services daily. Its data and statistics are regularly quoted by the financial press.[1]

Company history

Preqin traces its roots back to 2003, 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.[2] 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, hedge funds in 2007, infrastructure in 2008 and private debt in 2014. As a result of the change in focus from private equity to all alternative assets, the company changed its name to become formally known as Preqin in 2008.

Preqin is an independent business owned by its directors and employees.

Research

Aside from its subscription services and publications, Preqin releases research on a number of different topics that are used throughout the alternative assets industry.

Quarterly fundraising

Preqin releases quarterly fundraising data for the private equity industry,[3] real estate industry,[4] and infrastructure industry[5] showing how much capital has been raised by how many funds. In addition it also releases information for fundraising on specific topics.[6] 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.[7][8] 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.[9]

Performance research

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.[10] In November 2008, it released data showing the performance of fund interests sold by CalPERS in one of the largest secondaries sales in history.[11] 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.[12][13]

Investor surveys

Preqin carries out surveys to investors to establish trends in the industry.

Hedge fund investor research

Preqin releases information quarterly, regarding investors in hedge funds.

Research availability

Preqin releases its free research via its monthly [14] 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 [15] papers, which is also available on its website.

Competitors

Preqin's key competitors include: Bloomberg LP's PE<GO>, PitchBook Data, Inc., Dow Jones Venture Source, Thomson Reuters, Mergermarket, Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, Burgiss and Private Equity Analyst.

See also

References and notes

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