Lincoln International Initiates Monthly Iteration of Proprietary Private Market Indices in Response to Growing Demand for Real-Time Valuations

Lincoln International, a global investment banking advisory firm, today began publishing enterprise value and loan price data points from its Lincoln Private Market Index (LPMI) and Lincoln Senior Debt Index (LSDI) on a monthly basis. Lincoln will continue to release its LPMI and LSDI reports, which provide a deeper analysis of Lincoln’s private market data, quarterly.

“Recent tariff-induced volatility and market fluctuations highlighted the demand from private market participants for more real-time data,” said Ron Kahn, Managing Director and Co-Head of Lincoln’s Valuations & Opinions Group. “By publishing valuation data monthly, we’re providing the transparency and frequency that today’s market demands while maintaining the rigorous standards our indices are known for.”

The monthly publication cadence addresses growing market pressure for transparency in the private markets, particularly as more firms seek access to retail investor capital. Lincoln’s Valuations & Opinions Group has observed a substantial uptick in requests for valuations more frequent than quarterly, reflecting broader market expectations for more regular and detailed reporting.

“We’re getting ahead of the curve on what we see as the new standard for private market data frequency,” added Brian Garfield, Managing Director and Head of U.S. Portfolio Valuations. “The rise of evergreen products, including interval funds, and the democratization of private markets mean investors and managers need access to current, actionable intelligence.”

The LPMI measures changes in the enterprise value of U.S. privately held companies, while the LSDI tracks fair value and performance of senior loans in the private credit market. Both indices serve as critical benchmarks for investors and fund managers making investment decisions in private markets.

This initiative reinforces Lincoln International’s commitment to providing innovative solutions that address evolving client needs while supporting greater transparency across private markets. The monthly publications will be available on the research section of Lincoln’s website and distributed to clients and the broader private markets community.

LPMI and LSDI Results – Months Ending July 31 and August 31, 2025

LPMI

For the month ending July 31, 2025 the U.S. Lincoln Private Market Index increased by 0.3%; however, for the month ending August 31, 2025, the U.S. LPMI declined by 0.7% resulting in a quarter-to-date decline of 0.4%. This decline was driven by larger companies as the average EBITDA and multiple were fairly stable.

LSDI

For the month ending July 31, 2025, the U.S. Lincoln Senior Debt Index increased 10 basis points; however, for the month ending August 31, 2025, the U.S. Lincoln Senior Debt Index declined 10 basis points. As a result, for the two months ending August 31, 2025, the U.S. Lincoln Senior Debt Index was unchanged from June 30, 2025 at 98.9 representing the third highest fair value in its history, driven by heightened competition to deploy capital and resilient portfolio company performance.

About the Lincoln Private Market Index & Lincoln Senior Debt Index

The LPMI is the only index that tracks changes in the enterprise value of U.S. privately held companies—primarily those owned by private equity (PE) firms. With the LPMI, PE firms and other investors can benchmark private companies’ performance against their peers and the public markets.

This index is differentiated from other indices as it 1) tracks enterprise values of private companies over time, 2) is based on valuations rather than executive surveys and 3) covers a wide sampling of companies across a range of PE firms’ portfolios.

The LPMI seeks to measure the variation in private companies’ enterprise values by analyzing the aggregate change in company earnings as well as the prevailing market multiples for approximately 1,400 private companies, each generating less than $250 million in annual earnings. The index is calculated using anonymized data on an aggregated basis by Lincoln’s Valuations & Opinions Group, which has distinctive insights into the financial performance of thousands of portfolio investments of financial sponsors, business development companies and private debt funds.

The methodology was determined by Lincoln in collaboration with Professors Steven Kaplan and Michael Minnis of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. While other indices track changes to a company’s revenue or earnings, the LPMI is different in that it tracks the total value of these companies. Significantly, the large number of private companies used to create the LPMI helps maintain the confidentiality of all company-specific information used in the index.

Further, in 2020, Lincoln launched the LSDI, which provides insights into the private credit market as a fair value index tracking the total return, price, spread and yield to maturity of private credit securities. The index is developed using much of the same data as the LPMI, and the methodology was determined by Lincoln in collaboration with Professor Pietro Veronesi of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.