Recent research which analyzes detailed pension fund return data (mainly US and Canada) finds that it is precisely in alternative asset classes, and particularly so in private equity, that there are marked differences in performance across investors (Dyck and Pomorski, 2011, and Cremers et al., 2011).

They find that size is the primary driver of performance. Larger pension funds obtain higher returns. This finding raises three important questions: What is different about large investors when it comes to private equity investing? Are these results generalizable beyond pension funds? What makes larger pension funds earn higher returns?

This paper attempts to answer these questions by means of a worldwide survey of private equity investors, also called Limited Partners (LPs).