For Q4 2024, based on preliminary analysis, NB Private Markets currently anticipates buyout fund (including growth equity) valuations to be modestly positive in reported currency, increasing by 1.3%, but flat in terms of USD, with an average decrease of 0.3%, as FX translation was a significant factor in Q4. Venture capital funds will increase in value by an average of 1.7% in USD (+2.2% in reported currency) on average. Private equity distribution rates remained relatively low throughout 2024 as a percentage of beginning NAV, but there were some signs of recovery with Q4 producing the highest quarterly distribution rate of the past three years.
As private equity funds begin to report their Q4 2024 valuations, NB Private Markets proactively monitors these releases and performs analysis to obtain a preliminary sense of valuation changes in the private markets. Our analysis is conducted off a broad sample of private equity funds and can be useful in formulating forward-looking expectations for valuation marks.
Doug Manor, Managing Director, Neuberger Berman Private Markets, evaluates these finding further in the presentation below: