Asset Structures

Why Structure Matters

When you create an asset in Portfolio, the very first decision is its structure. This is stored as the AssetStructure enum and it has exactly two values: PRIVATE_EQUITY_FUND and DIRECT. There is no third option, no hybrid, no "other."

This choice acts as a routing switch for the entire system. It determines:

• Which transaction types are available (subscriptions vs investments, capital calls vs none)
• How investors enter the asset (commit-and-draw-down vs invest-and-get-units)
• What distribution mechanics apply (investor-level + fund-level vs investor-level only)
• Which metrics the calculation service computes (DPI/TVPI/XIRR vs Yield/Multiple/ROC)
• Whether fund cash management is available

The Two Structures: Side by Side

Let's explore each structure in depth, then compare them feature by feature.

Private Equity Fund: The Full Lifecycle

A PE Fund models the traditional private equity lifecycle: raise commitments, call capital over time, deploy it, return profits. This is the more complex of the two structures, with more transaction types and more moving parts.

Step 1: Subscriptions (Investor Entry)

When an LP joins a PE Fund, they create a Subscription that records their commitment. But not all subscriptions work the same way. The subscription type is configured per-asset via AssetData with the key SUBSCRIPTION_TYPE, and it determines how capital flows from commitment to units.

Step 2: Capital Calls (Drawing Down Commitments)

Once investors have subscribed with a Drawdown type, the fund issues Capital Calls to request a portion of their committed capital. Capital calls are percentage-based — the fund calls a percentage of each investor's commitment (e.g., "calling 25% of your $1M commitment = $250K").

Capital calls create cash flows, update the paid-in totals, and assign units to investors. They're a core part of what makes PE Funds complex — and they don't exist at all for Direct assets.

Step 3: Distributions (Returning Capital + Profits)

Distributions are how money flows back to investors. PE Funds support distributions at two levels:

Step 4: Fund Cash & Capital Repayments

PE Funds have a Fund Cash entity (FundCash) that tracks the cash pool available for deployment. Fund cash can be organized into cash pots (FundCashPots) — separate pools for different purposes (e.g., deployment, expenses, reserves).

Capital Repayments return committed capital to investors, reducing their outstanding commitment. This is different from a distribution — a distribution returns profits or redeemed capital, while a capital repayment reduces the commitment itself.

Direct: The Simpler Path

A Direct asset represents a direct stake in a single investment. There's no commitment-and-drawdown cycle — investors simply invest and receive units.

Step 1: Investments (Investor Entry)

Instead of Subscriptions, Direct assets use Investments. An investment is simpler: the investor puts money in and gets units. There's no commitment tracking, no unfunded obligation, no capital call lifecycle.

Step 2: Distributions (Investor-Level Only)

Direct assets support the same three distribution types (Redemption, Dividend, Other Income) but only at the investor level. There are no fund-level distributions because there's no concept of a pooled vehicle to distribute from pro-rata.

Step 3: Valuations

Both structures track value over time via Valuations, but the metrics differ significantly. Direct assets focus on investment return metrics rather than fund performance metrics.

Interactive Comparison

Use the tabs below to compare the two structures across different dimensions.

Fund Type: Open vs Closed

PE Fund assets have an additional configuration: the fund type. This is stored in the AssetData EAV table (not as a direct column on the assets table) and has two values:

Knowledge Check 1

Asset Hierarchy

Assets in Portfolio aren't always flat — they can be organized into hierarchies. There are two mechanisms for this:

1. Parent-Child Relationship

The assets table has a self-referencing foreign key (parent_asset_id) for simple parent-child relationships. A parent asset can have multiple child assets.

2. Sub-Positions (Many-to-Many)

For more complex structures, assets use the asset_sub_positions pivot table — a many-to-many relationship that allows an asset to appear as a sub-position under multiple parents. Each sub-position has a type:

Visual: Asset Hierarchy Example

Sub-Position Toggles

When an asset has sub-positions, the SubPositionToggle enum controls which behaviors are enabled. These toggles determine how transactions, valuations, and visibility work across the hierarchy.

Asset Classes

Every asset has an AssetClass that categorizes the type of investment. This is independent of the asset structure — both PE Funds and Direct assets can be any asset class.

Asset classes drive the allocation charts in the dashboard (allocation by geography, sector, vintage, style) and help categorize the portfolio for reporting purposes. They don't affect transaction availability — that's purely determined by the asset structure.

Putting It All Together

Here's the complete decision tree when setting up a new asset:

Knowledge Check 2

What's Next

You now understand the two fundamental asset structures and how they determine everything downstream — transaction availability, investor entry, distribution mechanics, and metrics. Next, we'll dive into the full transaction taxonomy — all 17+ transaction types, how they create cash flows, and the dependency chain between them.