Financials delivered the strongest one-year private equity sector returns of 19.2%, significantly outperforming the aggregate HarbourVest US Buyout Benchmark return of 8.4% for the calendar year 2025, according to new benchmark data from private markets investment firm HarbourVest Partners. Outside the US, Information Technology was the strongest sector for the year, with 23.1% returns in Global ex-US Buyouts and 20.8% in Europe Buyouts during 2025. HarbourVest’s proprietary investment-level benchmarks are built on data from 66,000 underlying private equity and venture transactions. The newly published data for the HarbourVest Private Equity Benchmarks include trailing one-, five- and ten-year returns through December 31, 2025.
“In 2025, Financials benefited from favorable interest rate dynamics, resilient earnings growth, and continued consolidation opportunities across a range of subsectors in the US,” said Sofia Gertsberg, Managing Director and Head of Quantitative Investment Science at HarbourVest Partners. “Shining a light on sector exposures in our benchmarks helps explain differences in long-term return patterns between private and public equity markets and provides investors with greater visibility into the underlying drivers of private equity returns.”
Sector Performance in Private Equity
Information Technology remained a standout over longer horizons: the sector posted the highest ten-year returns for US and Global buyouts, while Industrials was Europe’s longer-term outperformer.
Conversely, the Consumer sector has faced persistent headwinds, trailing the aggregate benchmarks in most one-, five-, and ten-year return periods.
|
|
US Buyout |
Global ex-US Buyout |
Europe Buyout |
||||||
|
Gross Annualized Sector Returns by Region as of 12/31/2025
|
1YR |
5YR |
10YR |
1YR |
5YR |
10YR |
1YR |
5YR |
10YR |
|
All sectors |
8.4% |
14.2% |
18.4% |
18.0% |
14.1% |
17.8% |
19.2% |
14.4% |
18.8% |
|
Communication Services |
4.1% |
13.5% |
14.5% |
19.4% |
12.8% |
15.1% |
19.8% |
14.6% |
N/A |
|
Consumer* |
2.8% |
10.8% |
13.3% |
17.6% |
11.2% |
15.2% |
20.3% |
12.8% |
16.1% |
|
Financials |
19.2% |
20.6% |
21.2% |
16.5% |
11.9% |
16.6% |
19.1% |
11.1% |
N/A |
|
Health Care |
14.0% |
11.6% |
18.4% |
13.8% |
10.9% |
16.5% |
15.8% |
9.5% |
16.9% |
|
Industrials |
7.7% |
17.3% |
19.4% |
18.0% |
19.9% |
21.6% |
19.4% |
19.8% |
22.6% |
|
Information Technology |
5.4% |
13.0% |
22.6% |
23.1% |
17.6% |
21.6% |
20.8% |
17.5% |
21.4% |
|
Materials |
12.8% |
19.3% |
N/A |
8.1% |
11.2% |
18.8% |
8.5% |
10.8% |
N/A |
|
Sources: HarbourVest. Annualized time-weighted returns presented in USD, gross of fees and carried interest, as of 12/31/2025. *Consumer category combines Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors. Investment Benchmarks not shown for Energy, Real Estate, and Utilities sectors, which represent <2% market weight as of 12/31/25. |
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Software Drives Long-Term Technology Returns
Within Information Technology, Software & Services generated a 22.7% annualized return over the past 10 years. Other notable industry-level performers over the past decade include Insurance (21.6%), Telecommunication Services (21.4%), Capital Goods (20.7%), and Commercial & Professional Services (20.4%).
In the near term, Technology Hardware and Equipment bested other sectors, with 36.2% one-year returns, versus 12.2% for the Global Buyouts aggregate benchmark.
“Despite the strong performance from technology, the next chapter for private markets will require investors to look beyond sector labels and ask what is durable underneath,” said Scott Voss, Chief Market Strategist, HarbourVest Partners. “Software has been one of the most durable value-creation engines in private equity, as reflected in past performance, but AI is changing the underwriting question from whether software is attractive? to which software assets gain or lose value in the face of AI disruption?”
|
Global Buyout Industry Group Returns |
T1Y |
T5Y |
T10Y |
|
Global Buyout Agg |
12.2% |
14.2% |
18.1% |
|
Automobiles & Components |
13.8% |
12.9% |
N/A |
|
Capital Goods |
15.3% |
21.1% |
20.7% |
|
Commercial & Professional Services |
7.6% |
14.9% |
20.4% |
|
Consumer Discretionary Distribution & Retail |
13.3% |
9.0% |
13.9% |
|
Consumer Durables & Apparel |
5.1% |
9.1% |
13.8% |
|
Consumer Services |
9.4% |
15.4% |
14.5% |
|
Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail |
18.4% |
7.8% |
16.0% |
|
Financial Services |
20.5% |
15.4% |
18.0% |
|
Food, Beverage & Tobacco |
6.0% |
11.6% |
16.2% |
|
Health Care Equipment & Services |
14.6% |
11.7% |
16.8% |
|
Household & Personal Products |
4.2% |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Insurance |
14.2% |
20.0% |
21.6% |
|
Media & Entertainment |
7.8% |
12.6% |
12.2% |
|
Software & Services |
9.1% |
14.3%% |
22.7% |
|
Technology Hardware & Equipment |
36.2% |
12.9% |
N/A |
|
Telecommunication Services |
12.0% |
15.1% |
21.4% |
|
Transportation |
14.5% |
20.3% |
16.2% |
|
Source: HarbourVest. Annualized time-weighted returns presented in USD, gross of fees and carried interest. Select industry groups are excluded where data coverage is not sufficient to support consistent analysis across the specified time horizons. |
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Greater Transparency into Performance Drivers and Benchmark Construction
The newest data also provide greater transparency into the sector concentration and composition of private versus public benchmarks. The HV Global Buyouts benchmark’s top 10 underlying company holdings represent approximately 4.0% of total benchmark value, while the top 20 holdings account for just 6.5%. By comparison, the top 10 constituents in the MSCI ACWI represent 24.71% of its total market capitalization2 and the top 10 in the S&P 500® comprise approximately 40.93%.
Relative to public markets, the Global Buyouts remained overweight Health Care and Industrials, while underweight Financials, Communication Services and Energy, as of December 31, 2025. Healthcare represented approximately 16% of the Global Buyout benchmark compared with 9% in the MSCI ACWI, while Industrials represented 17% versus approximately 11% in public markets.
Within Information Technology, the focus had been on software, whereas public markets showed a stronger appetite for chip and hardware companies. Within Industrials, buyouts also skewed toward services-oriented companies compared to the public markets.
|
Sector Weights |
All weights measured in terms of investment current value in USD (gross) |
Public Markets |
||||||||||
|
Global Buyout |
US Buyout |
Global ex-US Buyout |
Europe Buyout |
MSCI ACWI |
Global BO – ACWI |
|||||||
|
Communication Services |
4.5 |
% |
4.7 |
% |
4.3 |
% |
3.6 |
% |
8.8 |
% |
-4.3 |
% |
|
Consumer* |
17.0 |
% |
14.5 |
% |
20.7 |
% |
20.1 |
% |
15.3 |
% |
1.7 |
% |
|
Energy |
0.5 |
% |
0.7 |
% |
0.2 |
% |
0.2 |
% |
3.4 |
% |
-2.9 |
% |
|
Financials |
11.5 |
% |
10.6 |
% |
12.9 |
% |
14.3 |
% |
17.6 |
% |
-6.1 |
% |
|
Health Care |
16.1 |
% |
17.0 |
% |
14.8 |
% |
13.5 |
% |
9.0 |
% |
7.0 |
% |
|
Industrials |
16.8 |
% |
16.7 |
% |
17.0 |
% |
19.0 |
% |
10.6 |
% |
6.2 |
% |
|
Information Technology |
28.6 |
% |
31.9 |
% |
23.7 |
% |
22.9 |
% |
27.2 |
% |
1.4 |
% |
|
Materials |
3.6 |
% |
3.2 |
% |
4.1 |
% |
3.8 |
% |
3.7 |
% |
-0.1 |
% |
|
Real Estate |
0.6 |
% |
0.4 |
% |
1.0 |
% |
1.0 |
% |
1.8 |
% |
-1.1 |
% |
|
Utilities |
0.8 |
% |
0.4 |
% |
1.4 |
% |
1.8 |
% |
2.5 |
% |
-1.7 |
% |
|
Sources: HarbourVest, MSCI. “Global BO – ACWI” represents the difference between the Global Buyout weight and MSCI ACWI weight. *Consumer category combines Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors |
||||||||||||
|
Industry Group Weights as of 12/31/2025 |
Sector |
Global Buyout |
US Buyout |
Global ex-US Buyout |
Europe Buyout |
MSCI ACWI |
Global BO – ACWI |
||||||
|
Media & Entertainment |
Communications Services |
3.4 |
% |
4.1 |
% |
2.2 |
% |
2.1 |
% |
7.4 |
% |
-4.1 |
% |
|
Telecommunication Services |
Communications Services |
1.2 |
% |
0.6 |
% |
2.1 |
% |
1.5 |
% |
1.4 |
% |
-0.2 |
% |
|
Automobiles & Components |
Consumer |
1.0 |
% |
1.2 |
% |
0.6 |
% |
0.5 |
% |
2.6 |
% |
-1.6 |
% |
|
Consumer Discretionary Distribution & Retail |
Consumer |
3.4 |
% |
2.3 |
% |
4.9 |
% |
6.2 |
% |
4.8 |
% |
-1.4 |
% |
|
Consumer Durables & Apparel |
Consumer |
2.0 |
% |
1.3 |
% |
3.1 |
% |
2.3 |
% |
1.2 |
% |
0.9 |
% |
|
Consumer Services |
Consumer |
6.6 |
% |
6.5 |
% |
6.8 |
% |
6.2 |
% |
1.7 |
% |
4.9 |
% |
|
Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail |
Consumer |
1.8 |
% |
1.4 |
% |
2.3 |
% |
2.0 |
% |
1.6 |
% |
0.2 |
% |
|
Food, Beverage & Tobacco |
Consumer |
1.5 |
% |
1.2 |
% |
1.9 |
% |
2.0 |
% |
2.5 |
% |
-1.0 |
% |
|
Household & Personal Products |
Consumer |
0.7 |
% |
0.5 |
% |
1.0 |
% |
0.9 |
% |
1.0 |
% |
-0.3 |
% |
|
Energy |
Energy |
0.5 |
% |
0.7 |
% |
0.2 |
% |
0.2 |
% |
3.4 |
% |
-2.9 |
% |
|
Banks |
Financials |
0.4 |
% |
0.3 |
% |
0.6 |
% |
0.5 |
% |
8.2 |
% |
-7.8 |
% |
|
Financial Services |
Financials |
7.5 |
% |
6.5 |
% |
8.9 |
% |
9.7 |
% |
6.4 |
% |
1.1 |
% |
|
Insurance |
Financials |
3.6 |
% |
3.8 |
% |
3.4 |
% |
4.2 |
% |
3.0 |
% |
0.6 |
% |
|
Health Care Equipment & Services |
Health Care |
11.7 |
% |
14.3 |
% |
7.8 |
% |
6.2 |
% |
2.8 |
% |
8.9 |
% |
|
Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences |
Health Care |
4.4 |
% |
2.6 |
% |
7.0 |
% |
7.3 |
% |
6.2 |
% |
-1.8 |
% |
|
Capital Goods |
Industrials |
8.5 |
% |
8.4 |
% |
8.5 |
% |
10.1 |
% |
8.0 |
% |
0.4 |
% |
|
Commercial & Professional Services |
Industrials |
7.0 |
% |
7.2 |
% |
6.8 |
% |
7.6 |
% |
1.1 |
% |
5.9 |
% |
|
Transportation |
Industrials |
1.3 |
% |
1.1 |
% |
1.7 |
% |
1.2 |
% |
1.5 |
% |
-0.1 |
% |
|
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment |
Information Technology |
0.2 |
% |
0.2 |
% |
0.2 |
% |
0.1 |
% |
11.7 |
% |
-11.4 |
% |
|
Software & Services |
Information Technology |
26.6 |
% |
30.0 |
% |
21.5 |
% |
21.8 |
% |
8.3 |
% |
18.2 |
% |
|
Technology Hardware & Equipment |
Information Technology |
1.8 |
% |
1.7 |
% |
2.0 |
% |
1.0 |
% |
7.2 |
% |
-5.4 |
% |
|
Materials |
Materials |
3.6 |
% |
3.2 |
% |
4.1 |
% |
3.8 |
% |
3.7 |
% |
-0.1 |
% |
|
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) |
Real Estate |
0.0 |
% |
0.0 |
% |
0.0 |
% |
0.0 |
% |
1.3 |
% |
-1.3 |
% |
|
Real Estate Management & Development |
Real Estate |
0.6 |
% |
0.4 |
% |
1.0 |
% |
1.0 |
% |
0.5 |
% |
0.2 |
% |
|
Utilities |
Utilities |
0.8 |
% |
0.4 |
% |
1.4 |
% |
1.8 |
% |
2.5 |
% |
-1.7 |
% |
|
Sources: HarbourVest, MSCI. “Global BO – ACWI” represents the difference between the Global Buyout weight and MSCI ACWI weight. |
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About the HarbourVest Private Equity Benchmarks
HarbourVest’s proprietary benchmarks, created by the firm’s Quantitative Investment Science group, track the performance of PE and venture-owned companies. HarbourVest releases benchmark performance for companies in the following categories (i) Global Buyouts; (ii) US Buyouts, a subset of the Global Buyouts category; (iii) US Venture Capital; (iv) Global ex-US Buyouts, a subset of the Global Buyouts category; and (v) Europe Buyouts, a subset of the Global Buyouts category. An investment benchmark is similar to a scorecard, used to measure how well an investment is performing compared to a relevant counterpart. The HarbourVest benchmarks are based on HarbourVest’s proprietary dataset of over 66,000 investments that have been held in PE funds, representing more than $3.8 trillion of capital invested collectively as of December 31, 2025. We believe these benchmarks can provide recipients with differentiated information based on extensive private deal data and cash flow history, enabling transparency into performance drivers to provide more granular insights than is available with traditional PE benchmarks.
Disclosures:
HarbourVest Private Equity Benchmarks. Market analysis is not representative of any HarbourVest product: The HarbourVest Private Equity Benchmarks reflect a compilation of PE partnership and transactional data drawn from internal and external sources and related estimated valuations of such companies by HarbourVest for the illustrated period (which in turn are based on HarbourVest’s subjective assumptions). Returns are not representative of any HarbourVest fund, account, and are not representative of any HarbourVest investment experience. Returns are gross of management fees and carried interest. The HarbourVest Private Equity Benchmarks data universe information has been developed internally based on information obtained from sources believed to be reliable; however, HarbourVest does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of such information or HarbourVest’s related valuation estimates or assumptions, which may be materially inaccurate. The HarbourVest Private Equity Benchmarks are intended to be representative of the broader PE market and do not reflect any views, analysis, or recommendation by HarbourVest with respect to any particular investment and are not representative of the investment performance of any HarbourVest investment or the experience of any investor in any HarbourVest product. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
HarbourVest Partners, LLC (“HarbourVest”) is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. This material is solely for informational purposes and should not be viewed as a current or past recommendation or an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy securities or adopt any investment strategy. The opinions expressed herein represent the current, good faith views of the author(s) at the time of publication, are not definitive investment advice, and should not be relied upon as such. This material has been developed internally and/or obtained from sources believed to be reliable; however, HarbourVest does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of such information. The information is subject to change without notice and HarbourVest has no obligation to update you. There is no assurance that any events or projections will occur, and outcomes may be significantly different than the opinions shown here. This information, including any projections concerning financial market performance, is based on current market conditions, which will fluctuate and may be superseded by subsequent market events or for other reasons.
The HarbourVest Global Buyout Benchmark seeks to measure the performance, gross of fund fees, expenses and carried interest, of buyout investments made by private equity funds in private companies globally.
The HarbourVest U.S. Buyout Benchmark seeks to measure the performance, gross of fund fees, expenses and carried interest, of buyout investments made by private equity funds in private companies that are based in the United States.
The HarbourVest Global ex-US Buyout Benchmark seeks to measure the performance, gross of fund fees, expenses and carried interest, of buyout investments made by private equity funds in private companies globally, including developed and emerging markets, excluding companies based in the United States.
The HarbourVest Europe Buyout Benchmark seeks to measure the performance, net of fund fees, expenses and carried interest, of buyout investments made by private equity funds in private companies that are based in Western and Eastern Europe and the Nordics.
The MSCI AC World® Index (ACWI) is designed to measure the performance of publicly-traded large and mid-capitalization equity securities in global developed and emerging markets. The MSCI ACWI Index is maintained by Morgan Stanley Capital International (“MSCI”) and has historically captured approximately 85% coverage of the free float-adjusted market capitalization of its publicly-traded global equity opportunity set.
The S&P 500® Index is designed to measure the performance of publicly-traded equity securities of the large capitalization sector of the US market and includes 500 large companies having common stock listed on eligible U.S. exchanges. The S&P 500 Index is maintained by Standard & Poors (“S&P”) and has historically captured approximately 80% coverage of available market capitalization of publicly-traded equities in the US market.
About HarbourVest Partners
HarbourVest is an independent, global private markets firm with over 43 years of experience and $161 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2025. Our interwoven platform provides clients with access to global primary funds, secondary transactions, direct co-investments, real assets and infrastructure, and private credit. Our strengths extend across strategies, enabled by our team of more than 1,200 employees, including more than 225 investment professionals across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.
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______________________________ 1 CapIQ, as of 12/31/2025 2 CapIQ, as of 12/31/2025 3 CapIQ, as of 12/31/2025 |
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