On 28 October, 2025, an EDHEC Infra & Private Assets (EIPA) paper entitled “Benchmarking Private Equity: Are US Pension Plans Performing as Poorly as their Benchmarks Suggest” authored by Evan Clark, Senior Private Market Analyst, was featured among Savvy Investor’s top papers in October 2025.

The paper examines the benchmarking methodologies used by ten major U.S. public pension plans and highlights a critical shortcoming: current benchmarks for private equity do not accurately capture the realities of the private equity market. As a result, they may distort performance assessments and undermine effective investment evaluation.

“The evidence across ten U.S. public pension plans makes clear that current benchmarking practices for private equity fail to reflect the private equities market, defeating the purpose of the benchmark.”

🔗 Read the full article.

🔗 Read the paper.