We examine the drivers of private equity in response to the fully exogenous Covid-19 shock,
employing listed private equity as a proxy for traditional non-listed private equity. This approach
enables us to reliably measure firm characteristics and performance in real-time. Listed private
equity firms, on average, underperformed significantly during the crisis, with a performance drop
ranging from 9.2% to 43.6%, depending on the model used. However, there is substantial crosssectional
variation driven by unique firm-level attributes including access to capital, liquidity,
transparency, and ownership structure. Listed private equity with better access to capital and
higher transparency shows resilience during the crisis, while higher illiquidity and opacity
exacerbate the negative effects. This study offers early evidence on Covid-19's impact on private
equity firms, highlighting value drivers and performance dynamics of this alternative asset class
during a period of extreme tail risk.