It is probably time to put to rest the question of whether, over nearly three decades, U.S. buyout shops have on average outperformed the public equity markets. They have.

Deal values may have rocketed 88% in first quarter, but April is not showing a similar trend.

Thomson Reuters has launched two indices focused on the US venture capital market, the Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Research Index (TR VC Research Index) and the Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Index (TR VC Index). The TR VC Research Index is a comprehensive indicator of the US venture capital industry while the TR VC Index is an investable index replicating the performance of the TR VC Research Index using liquid public securities.

This morning First Read brings you the latest on Thomson Reuters’ investable venture capital index; where buyout firms are seeking more dividend loans and finds out what states are laden with the most student debt and therefore hungry to earn back the cash.

Cambridge Associates reports that limited partners received $93.6 billion from U.S. buyout funds in 2011, the largest annual amount it has recorded since it began tracking the data in 1986. Will the record distributions continue this year?

U.S. private equity investments outperformed the stock market in 2011 and distributions to investors reached a record as fund managers seized on an opportunity to sell long-held assets, reports market research firm Cambridge Associates.

Veritas Capital has closed its $1.25 billion buy of Thomson Reuters healthcare business. The company will be called Truven Health Analytics. Truven, according to a statment, is a combination of ‘truth’ and ‘proven.’ Truven employs about 2,200 people globally. PRESS RELEASE The previously announced $1.25 billion sale of the Thomson Reuters Healthcare business to an [...]

Thomson Reuters said Monday that it has agreed to sell its healthcare busines to Veritas Capital in a deal valued at $1.25 billion. The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is execpted to close in the next few months. The Healthcare business provides data, analytics and performance benchmarking solutions and services to hospitals, health systems and [...]

Here is confirmation of what most of you in the venture world already know. The market for venture-backed IPOs rebounded in the fourth quarter, but not enough to match the vigorous final three months of 2010. That helped lead all of 2011 down 31% in volume and 41% in dollar value from a year ago, [...]

European private equity performance figures bode well for those European buyout funds on the fundraising trail. General partners saw double-digit positive returns in the one-year time horizon through June 30, according to Thomson Reuters Private Equity Performance Index. Looking at the overall figures, European private equity performance posted positive returns across all but the 3-year [...]