Increased Scrutiny for Private Equity Valuations The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has started an informal inquiry of private equity firms, asking for a broad range of documents on how the funds value assets and who invests in them, reports Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek. The agency’s Los Angeles office last year sent letters to several firms asking for details on fund investments and the valuation of assets, as well as communication with clients, according to the copy of a letter obtained by Bloomberg News. Firms were asked to produce the documents by the end of last year. Private equity firms have come…
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Why PE and the Middle Market Tied the Knot Robert Teitelman at The Deal explains: . . . This is the first of six special issues The Deal magazine will dedicate to the middle market in 2012, with a particular emphasis on a participant that, over the past four decades, emerged from that vast and diverse pool of midmarket companies: private equity. The current political debate tends to overlook the fact that private equity was gestated within the middle market for a very good reason: Midmarket companies, unlike large-cap corporates, have long been relatively starved for capital. Family-owned companies wanted…
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Kravis: No Better Time than Now to Be Making Investments” Private Equity International’s James Taylor reports that at an invitation-only event in Monaco, the KKR co-founder said that low interest rates and a lack of capital offer ‘enormous’ opportunities for private equity: Kolhberg Kravis Roberts co-founder Henry Kravis struck a bullish tone in a speech in Monaco this week, dismissing talk of a “hard landing” in Asia, suggesting that the American consumer was regaining confidence and highlighting the opportunities for the industry in light of the problems in the banking sector. “There’s probably no better time than now to…
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Study: A Quarter of LPs Plan to Increase Allocations An overwhelming majority of investors who responded to a recent survey planned to maintain or increase their allocations to private equity, with high fees and a lack of transparency dissuading the remainder from committing more capital to the asset class. Clare Burrows reports at Private Equity International: Only 2 percent of the 411 investors and consultants surveyed by fund administrator SEI plan to decrease their allocation to private equity in the next 12 months, with 26 percent planning to increase their exposure. In the first of three reports based on the…
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In Silicon Valley, a Culture Clash Sullies a Romance Steven M. Davidoff reports on the New York Times DealBook blog: Private equity has broken venture capital’s heart, and V.C. is not taking it well. The romance ended when Silver Lake, the private equity firm, agreed to sell Skype to Microsoft. Silver Lake is estimated to be pocketing more than $4 billion from the sale. This would normally be a joyous event for Skype’s employees as they too share the wealth. But it is nothing of the sort. The venture capital community appears to be up in arms…