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This paper investigates the market timing abilities of private equity fund managers using a unique set of cash-flow data. We show that investment timing has an impact on the perform- ance of venture-capital funds. However, divestment timing has no such impact on returns. For buyout funds we reveal that performance is not driven by market timing but is significant- ly related to the experience of the individual fund manager. Thus, for successful investing into mature companies, getting access to better deal flow and managing the investment affect the resulting success. Our results complement recent findings on the performance of private equity funds.