在巴黎HEC商学院(HEC School of Management)从事战略和企业政策研究的副教授奥利弗•戈沙尔格每年春季都要对这一问题做出回答。通过与道琼斯(Dow Jones)合作，戈沙尔格已打造了一个排行榜，专门分析未来哪些私募股权公司最可能有业内领先表现：

    “它基于10项经实践检验的不同指标，对每家公司的竞争力地位进行评估。然后，根据公司表现与每项指标的历史关联度，推导出未来竞争力总分。这些指标的共同运用反映了一些价值创造的重要动力，包括规模、交易质量、把握债市/股市时机的能力以及战略定位。”

    最新一期榜单将Silver Lake Partners和Warburg Pincus并列榜首，“体质分”均为3.0。

    随后依次是Nordic Capital (2.3)、Bain Capital (1.8)、Doughty Hanson (1.7)、TPG Capital (1.7)、凯雷投资集团(The Carlyle Group) (1.6)、AXA Private Equity (1.4)和高盛(Goldman Sachs) (1.4)。

    去年榜单居首的是AXA Private Equity，随后依次是CDC Enterprises Equity Capital、Providence Equity Partners、Goldman Sachs Capital Partners和TPG Capital。

    戈沙尔格评估了225家私募股权公司，代表1,000多支基金、逾万亿美元的承诺资本。评估要素包括当前活动规模、展现出来的抗周期性投资能力、战略独特性程度和退出时机。

    That's the question approached each spring by Oliver Gottschalg, an associate professor of strategy and business policy at the HEC School of Management in Paris. In partnership with Dow Jones, Gottschalg has developed a ranking to determine which private equity firms are most likely to be the top performers going forward:

    "It evaluates each firm's competitive positioning based on 10 different empirically validated criteria and then derives an overall future competitiveness score based on the historic link between firm performance and each of these criteria. Collectively, these criteria capture some of the most relevant drivers of value creation, including scale, quality of deal flow, ability to time debt and equity markets, and strategic positioning."

    The latest rankings find Silver Lake Partners and Warburg Pincus tied atop the rankings, with "fitness scores" of 3.0.

    They are followed by Nordic Capital (2.3), Bain Capital (1.8), Doughty Hanson (1.7), TPG Capital (1.7), The Carlyle Group (1.6), AXA Private Equity (1.4) and Goldman Sachs (1.4).

    Last year's list was led by AXA Private Equity, followed by CDC Enterprises Equity Capital, Providence Equity Partners, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and TPG Capital.

    Gottschalg evaluated 225 private equity firms, representing more than 1,000 funds with more than $1 trillion in committed capital. Factors evaluated include scale of current activities, demonstrated ability to invest counter-cyclically, level of strategic uniqueness and exit timing.