Private-firm equity has been conspicuously profitable for T. Rowe Price New Horizons, a fund
that invests in smaller companies (it was not one of the funds that Morningstar said had owned Snap) and is one of the biggest investors in privately held stocks.
Massachusetts Financial Services, for example, has “no explicit policy against investing privately on behalf of our funds,” said
Daniel Flaherty, a company spokesman, “but we have generally avoided private investments due to their higher risk profile.”
JPMorgan Chase, another of the 10 largest asset managers, does not invest in
private companies, either, but a representative declined to offer reasons.
“We’re trying to find something we can continue to buy
and make a bigger portion of our funds,” said Andy Boyd, the head of global equity capital markets at Fidelity, the largest private-firm equity investor by far, with stakes totaling roughly $5 billion across several funds, according to Morningstar.
Ed Sweeney, a spokesman for BlackRock, said his firm was a somewhat active owner of private companies three or four years ago, especially through its Global Allocation Fund,
but lately managers have found valuations high, relative to those of public companies.
