The HarbourVest Private Equity Benchmarks (HV PE Benchmarks) are grounded in a detailed analysis of more than 64,000 deals and over $3.7 trillion in private capital investments across 3,000 partnerships spanning 45 years. This extensive dataset allows for a granular examination of private markets, enabling improved accuracy in risk modeling and return attribution analysis.

Sofia Gertsberg, Managing Director and Head of Quantitative Investment Science at HarbourVest, emphasised the long-term outperformance of private equity despite recent public market gains. "Our data shows that while public markets have outperformed private equity on a trailing 12-month basis, private equity continues to outperform over the long term at the global and regional levels," she stated. "We can see that PE-owned businesses are generally outperforming across all five benchmarks for the 5-year and 10-year time frames."

The newly introduced HV Global ex-US Buyout Benchmark includes transaction-level data from Europe (76.7%), Asia (15.1%), North America ex-US (4.4%), and Emerging Markets (3.8%). Meanwhile, the HV Europe Buyout Benchmark primarily features companies headquartered in the United Kingdom (30.4%), Germany (13.9%), and France (10.7%), with other Western European countries, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere making up the remainder.

The Q2 2025 performance highlights reveal that the Communication Services, Financials, and Healthcare sectors were the top global performers, while the Materials, Industrials, and Information Technology sectors lagged, posting modest positive returns. Energy, however, experienced a negative return. In the US, Communication Services, Financials, Healthcare, and Industrials outperformed, whereas Information Technology, Materials, and Consumer sectors underperformed.

Looking at Europe, the Consumer, Information Technology, and Communications Services sectors outperformed the broader Europe Buyout market. However, Industrials, Health Care, Financials, and Materials did not fare as well during this period.

Gertsberg highlighted the firm's commitment to transparency and data quality in its benchmarks. "HarbourVest provides a clear lens into transaction-level returns, helping investors understand the true drivers of performance," she said. "Developed through our more than 3,000 partnerships, the quality and granularity of our transaction-level data allows us to look at investment size, sector or geography, so we can model out near-term projections of PE market performance ahead of the traditional reporting cycle."

The annualised benchmark returns as of June 30, 2025, show that private equity continues to hold its ground against public markets. The HV Global Buyout Benchmark projects a 3.8% return for Q3 2025, with trailing 12-month returns at 9.4%, five-year returns at 14.9%, and ten-year returns at 13.7%. In comparison, the MSCI ACWI Total Return recorded a 7.7% actual return for the trailing 12 months and 16.7% over five years, but only 10.5% over ten years.

Similarly, the HV US Buyout Benchmark projects a 3.5% return for Q3 2025, with trailing returns of 7.1% for 12 months, 14.8% for five years, and 14.1% for ten years. In contrast, the Russell 2000 Total Return posted a 12.4% actual return for the trailing 12 months, with five-year returns at 10.0% and ten-year returns at 7.1%.

The HV Global ex-US Buyout Benchmark and HV Europe Buyout Benchmark also demonstrate strong long-term performance, with trailing five-year returns at 18.4% and 19.1%, respectively.

These benchmarks are intended to offer a directional sense of private equity performance compared to other asset classes, providing valuable insights for investors navigating the complexities of the private equity landscape. However, final Q3 private equity performance numbers will only be available once the underlying firms release their quarterly reports, typically 60-90 days after the quarter's end.

HarbourVest's proprietary benchmarks, developed by its Quantitative Investment Science group, track the performance of private equity and venture-owned companies across various categories, including Global Buyouts, US Buyouts, US Venture Capital, Global ex-US Buyouts, and Europe Buyouts. These benchmarks provide differentiated information based on extensive private investment transaction data and cash flow history, offering more granular insights than traditional private equity benchmarks.

As HarbourVest continues to refine its benchmarks and provide detailed insights into private equity performance, investors can expect enhanced transparency and a deeper understanding of the factors driving returns in this dynamic asset class.