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????二月份，美國(guó)私募股權(quán)基金公司德州太平洋資本（TPG Capital）的共同創(chuàng)始人吉姆?庫(kù)爾特在柏林演講時(shí)花了大量篇幅探討了私募股權(quán)基金架構(gòu)的未來，主要談到了一般合伙人作為基金管理者的讓步，特別是從機(jī)構(gòu)有限合伙人協(xié)會(huì)（ILPA）發(fā)布的指引來看。但接著，他提出了最低回報(bào)率問題，認(rèn)為作為投資者的有限合伙人事實(shí)上占盡了便宜。 ????為了照顧那些不太了解私募股權(quán)基金的人們，這里有必要解釋一下。所謂“最低回報(bào)率”就是一支基金承諾為投資者帶來的回報(bào)率，只有在實(shí)現(xiàn)最低回報(bào)率后，基金管理人才能開始分享利潤(rùn)（即資本增值提成）。 ????庫(kù)爾特表示，最低回報(bào)率最初的設(shè)計(jì)是基于10年期美國(guó)國(guó)債這一普遍接受的無風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資基準(zhǔn)，因此，最低回報(bào)率過去往往設(shè)定在7- 8%之間，20世紀(jì)80年代末、90年代初大多數(shù)時(shí)候美國(guó)國(guó)債的收益率都處于這樣的水平（當(dāng)時(shí)也是私募股權(quán)基金真正開始興起的時(shí)候）。但1998年美國(guó)國(guó)債收益率跌破了6%，而且此后再也沒有回頭。但另一方面，私募股權(quán)基金的最低回報(bào)率卻基本保持了穩(wěn)定。 ????當(dāng)然，也有例外。歷史業(yè)績(jī)不錯(cuò)的一些公司往往會(huì)給出較低的最低回報(bào)率（因?yàn)樗麄冇匈Y本這樣做），募資困難的公司就會(huì)給出較高的最低回報(bào)率（因?yàn)樗麄儽仨氝@樣做）。但最初的邏輯依據(jù)似乎已經(jīng)喪失。 ????庫(kù)爾特沒有說德州太平洋資本未來融資將采取這樣的做法，也沒有說2-3%的最低回報(bào)率將成為新的常態(tài)。但當(dāng)前市場(chǎng)這么關(guān)注一般合伙人與有限合伙人的關(guān)系，我覺得在這個(gè)時(shí)候有必要指出的是，過去十年來并不是所有事情都向著對(duì)一般合伙人有利的方向轉(zhuǎn)變…… ????譯者：老榆木 |
????During a speech in Berlin last month, TPG Capital co-founder Jim Coulter spent a lot of time discussing the future of private equity fund structures. Most of it was in relation to general partner concessions, particularly in light of the ILPA guidelines. But then he brought up the issue of hurdle rates, and suggested that limited partners actually are getting an inappropriately sweet deal. ????For the uninitiated, hurdle rates are the percentage return that a fund must generate for investors before fund managers get to begin sharing in the profits (i.e., carried interest). ????Coulter said that they were originally structured to mirror 10-year U.S. Treasuries -- the broadly-accepted baseline for riskless investment. That's why hurdles were typically put at between 7% and 8%, which is where Treasuries were priced during most of the late 1980s and early 1990s (when the PE business was really becoming institutionalized). But Treasuries fell below 6% in 1998, and haven't looked back since. Hurdle rates, on the other hand, have mostly remained stable. ????To be sure, there are exceptions. Firms with strong track records often propose lower hurdle rates (because they can), while firms with tougher fundraising slogs often propose higher hurdles rates (because they have to). But the original rationale seems to have been lost. ????Coulter did not suggest that TPG planned to take up this particular mantle for its own fundraising efforts, nor did he think 2%-3% hurdle rates would ever become the new normal. But in a time when so much attention is focused on GP/LP alignment, I felt it was worth noting that not everything over the past decade has shifted in the GP's direction… |
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