S&P launches private equity index

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has launched of the S&P Listed Private Equity Index, an investable index which provides tradeable exposure to a selection of the world’s largest and most liquid publicly listed companies that invest or operate in the private equity arena. It aims to offer asset managers a benchmark performance in the sector and create index-linked investment products.

“Standard & Poor’s has been closely monitoring listed private equity companies for several years and believes there is now a sufficient pool of companies and a critical mass in market capitalisation to form a representative and tradeable index,” says New York-based David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P. “In 2003, there were only 16 pure private equity listed entities with a daily turnover of more than $1 million and a market capitalisation greater than $250