Private Equity Intelligence

Preqin

Type	Private Company
Founded	2003
Headquarters	London New York City Singapore San Francisco Hong Kong Manila Guangzhou
Key people	Mark O'Hare
Products	Research
Number of employees	350
Website	www.preqin.com

Preqin is a leading source of data and intelligence for the alternative assets industry. Operating from offices in New York, London, Singapore, San Franciso, Hong Kong, Manila and Guangzhou, the company provides comprehensive information on the private equity, real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds, and private debt industries, encompassing funds and fundraising, performance, fund managers, institutional investors, deals and fund terms. Preqin's data and analysis is available via online databases, publications and complimentary research reports. Leading alternative assets professionals from around the world rely on Preqin's services daily. Its data and statistics are regularly quoted by the financial press.

Preqin traces its roots back to 2003, when the company was launched with the name Private Equity Intelligence. It was founded by Nick Arnott and Mark O'Hare. Private equity represented the sole area of focus for the company at the time. The first product launched by the firm was Performance Analyst, which uses the Freedom of Information Act legislation in the UK and US to gain performance data on private equity fund performance from public pension plans. This made it possible to view fund performance data for thousands of private equity vehicles at the fund level. Other products providing a list of fund managers on the road seeking capital and a database of institutional investors active in private equity soon followed.

Preqin extended its scope to include real estate in 2006, hedge funds in 2007, infrastructure in 2008 and private debt in 2014. As a result of the change in focus from private equity to all alternative assets, the company changed its name to become formally known as Preqin in 2008.

Preqin is an independent business owned by its directors and employees.

Aside from its subscription services and publications, Preqin releases research on a number of different topics that are used throughout the alternative assets industry.

Preqin releases quarterly fundraising data for the private equity industry, real estate industry, and infrastructure industry showing how much capital has been raised by how many funds. In addition it also releases information for fundraising on specific topics. Preqin's fundraising statistics account for funds on a global scale, and are widely used throughout the alternatives industry and in the financial press as a barometer for investor appetite. Preqin also releases figures for the number of funds currently on the road seeking capital at any time. These figures give an indication of how congested the private equity market is at any given time—whether there are enough funds on the road to satisfy investor demand, or too many funds causing increased competition.