John Renkema, a former senior private equity manager who spent two decades at the Dutch pension giant APG, argues that institutional investors could gain a more accurate view of portfolio performance by comparing their private equity programme with their own listed equity portfolios rather than using external benchmarks.\n\nRenkema, now a consultant, says pension funds often invest in both private and listed equities, yet evaluate them against different external indices. This creates a distorted picture. He advocates for internal asset class evaluations and specific goal assessments to align performance measurement with actual portfolio objectives.\n\nThe approach would help funds better understand the relative value of their private equity holdings versus public market alternatives.

Renkema's insight comes from his lengthy tenure at the Netherlands' largest pension system, where he oversaw private equity investments.