We study the liquidity properties of private equity cash flows using data from 837 buyout and venture capital funds from 1984-2010. Most cash flow variation at a point in time is diversifiable – either idiosyncratic to a given fund or explained by the fund's age. Both capital calls and...

Public and private equity waves move together. Using quarterly cash-flow data for a large sample of venture capital and buyout funds from 1984-2010, we investigate the implications of this co-cyclicality for understanding private equity cash flows and performance. In the cross-section, varying...