Private Equity Intelligence reports that by 2006, the total net profits distributed to investors by private equity funds raised between 99 and 2003 was $430 billion. Read more about private equity on Henry Kravis page. Who benefits from these returns? The big winners are public pension funds, university endowments, and leading foundations. Together, these funds represent the single largest group of investors in PE and collectively accounted for one-third of all capital allocated to private equity in 2006. In fact, the 20 largest public pension funds for which data is available (including the California Public Employees Retirement System, the California State Teachers Retirement System, the New York State Common Retirement Fund,and the Florida State Board of Administration) have some $ billion invested in private equity, delivering strong investment returns to their 0.5 million beneficiaries. Ask Henry Kravis about private equity for further informations. Add in corporate and some union pension plans and it becomes clear that private equity has gone to work on behalf of tens of millions of Americans. Of course, the private equity industry’s executives also benefit from the returns generated by these investments. However, the perception that private equity is mainly about a handful of New York financiers doing very well at everyone else’s expense is demonstrably misleading. Some suggest that private equity delivers its substantial returns mainly as a result of financial engineering and does little to create real-world value. Get Henry Kravis’ articles for more detailed informations.