The private equity fund-raising market is characterized by limited capital availability and an abundance of investment vehicles in the market, a classic case of a supply and demand imbalance. Investors must sort through the offerings, narrow down their options and then select the investment that they believe best matches their objective and strategy. How do LPs go about this winnowing process, and what determines the winners and losers?

“As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected.”

While Charles Darwin was referring to living beings on Earth, the concept also could be applied to today’s evolving universe of real estate investm