How to Track Vintage Year After You Close as an LP

How to track vintage year is the peer-comparison tag on a closed-end PE or VC fund after you own it: which date the LPA or reporting pack uses (first close, final close, or first investment), the calendar year you store, and why a later close does not retag that year. It is not the catch-up wire. Raziel's subsequent close equalization tracking page is equalization capital, equalization interest, and as-if-called paid-in capital on one admission notice. This page is the vintage-year row you keep for the life of the fund.

This is not legal, tax, or investment advice. Raziel does not provide it. Copy the date and the definition from the LPA, the GP report, or the consultant pack you are matching. Do not invent a single industry rule. Public sources disagree.

What vintage year is (sources disagree)

Vintage year is a cohort label for peer comparison, not a cash-flow event. Public definitions do not match. Preqin's Private Capital Performance Data Guide and Preqin Academy glossary: vintage year is "the first year of investment/drawdown from the investor." Cambridge Associates' US Private Equity benchmark methodology (as of March 31, 2026): vintage year is the date of the fund's first cash flow, defined as the first LP contribution. Activity before that contribution is ignored. Cambridge Associates shifted from legal inception to first cash flow in Q1 2022 (GIPS allows both). GIPS, as restated in INREV's Global Definitions Database (D0860, 6 December 2023), allows two methods: the year the first outside-investor commitment is closed and legally binding, or the year of the first drawdown or capital call. INREV: specify which definition you used. PitchBook's report methodologies page: the year the fund first delivers capital to a project or company; if unconfirmed, PitchBook uses the year of final close. A current public ILPA vintage-year glossary page could not be confirmed. ILPA Reporting Template v. 2.0 Suggested Guidance (January 2025) defines commencement of operations, not vintage year. Store the definition you copied.

Five columns on one vintage row

Open one row per fund after close. Copy each field from the LPA, close papers, the first investment or first-call notice, and the pack you are matching. If a date is missing, store that it was missing.

• First close date. Initial Closing Date from the LPA or first closing notice. The ILPA Model LPA Term Sheet (Whole of Fund) treats later investors as if they had invested on that date. That "as if" is equalization, not a vintage retag. Store the calendar date.

• Final close date. Final Closing Date from the LPA or PPM if stated. The same ILPA term sheet: the Fund ceases accepting Commitments (illustrated as 12 months from Initial Closing Date). Your document may differ. PitchBook uses this year only as a fallback when first investment is unknown. Store the date, or store missing.

• First investment date. First portfolio investment, or first LP contribution or capital call if that is the definition you copied. Preqin: first year of investment/drawdown. Cambridge Associates: first LP contribution. Store the date and the notice label.

• Vintage year you tagged, and which of those dates it came from. The four-digit year you will keep, plus the source date: first close, final close, or first investment (or first LP contribution). INREV and GIPS: specify the method. Do not leave the year without the date it came from.

• Source of the definition (LPA, GP report, consultant). Whose rule you copied. An LPA may never say "vintage year." A GP letter, a consultant, Preqin, Cambridge Associates, or PitchBook may each use a different date. Store the source name and the sentence you copied.

A later close does not retag the vintage

A subsequent close admits new or increased commitments. It can trigger equalization. It does not rewrite first close, first LP contribution, or first investment. GIPS 2010 private equity provisions (6.A.19 and 6.A.22): composites must be defined by vintage year and mandate, and that definition must remain consistent for the life of the composite. Disclose the vintage year and how it is defined. Cambridge Associates tags vintage to the first LP contribution, so a later admission is not a new first cash flow. Preqin tags the first year of investment/drawdown, already set when later closes land. PitchBook's final-close fallback is for a missing first-investment year, not a retag after a confirmed first investment. Keep equalization on Raziel's subsequent close equalization tracking page. Freeze this vintage year once tagged.

Do not invent one rule or fold this into equalization

First close, final close, and first investment can sit in three different calendar years. Preqin, Cambridge Associates, GIPS (two allowed methods), and PitchBook do not pick the same date. ILPA's reporting guidance tells you when reporting starts, not which vintage year to stamp. Copy one definition. Write which date produced the year. A later close that equalizes paid-in capital is a different row.

When the row holds

The row holds if the three dates are document dates (or stored as missing), the vintage year names which date it came from, and the definition source is the LPA, GP report, or consultant pack you copied. It fails when you invent a universal vintage rule, retag the year because a subsequent close landed later, or treat equalization capital as a new first investment. Raziel's IRR calculator is a free money-weighted return tool. Vintage year is the peer-group tag next to that IRR, not the cash-flow math. Raziel does not give investment advice. Copy the dates. Store the definition. Leave the year alone when later closes arrive.