Private Equity Funds Traded in London Hint at Hidden 401(k) Risk

Private equity is moving closer to gaining entry into 401(k) accounts, but there’s no clear picture of how retail investments in the asset class will fare. The big publicly listed names — Apollo, Blackstone, KKR — tell one story, but in their case, it’s about the business of managing funds, not the actual returns inside them.

Another perspective comes from one corner of the London Stock Exchange. There, buyout portfolios change hands every day, offering a rare, unvarnished read on private equity’s market value. The verdict from a new study: When these assets are exposed to live pricing, they ...