Our research agenda focuses on three critical areas: unlisted asset valuations, alpha generation, and risk management in private markets. These topics have never been more relevant as institutional investors navigate an evolving allocation landscape and seek robust frameworks for portfolio construction and performance measurement.

Last year marked significant milestones for our center. In November, we published “Beyond the Illusion of Stability: The Case for Valuation Discipline in Private Markets,” arguing that credible valuation regimes grounded in procedural clarity and technological capability are indispensable to investor fairness and market legitimacy. Our October research included a Journal of Investing article on “Dynamic Modeling of Transaction Prices in Private Equity Markets,” proposing a factor model approach that robustly explains valuations observed in private market transactions and addresses biases in appraised valuations.

We also released “Evergreens: The Tree That Never Sheds,” examining performance, risk, and valuation practices in private equity evergreen structures, with particular attention to valuation disclosures, fee levels, and liquidity risk. Our May publication, “Market Risk in Private Equities: The Prominent Role of Systematic Risk Factors,” investigated market risk at the asset level, moving beyond traditional fund-level risk analysis.

This year, we’re building on that foundation with new empirical work examining alpha sources and persistence, advanced risk modeling frameworks tailored to unlisted assets, and practical tools for valuation quality assessment.

Whether you’re an institutional investor, asset manager, or academic colleague, I invite you to engage with our research and contribute to the conversation shaping the future of private asset investing.

Best regards,

Tim Whittaker
Director, EDHEC Infrastructure and Private Assets