Rewind almost three years and the trade union movement was embroiled in a bitter media spat with the private equity industry. We were asked to produce the evidence that private equity firms increased risk for the companies they acquired. Well, the evidence is now here.

In an interview with Euractiv, Javier Echarri, Secretary-General of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA), criticised the EU’s proposed directive on alternative investment funds for being flawed and for discriminating against private equity, particularly through its strict disclosure requirements.

UNI has put out a useful little report (PDF) looking at pension fund investment in private equity as an asset class. It helpfully points out where the labour movement has representation in the funds that are investing in PE (actually this is quite common). It's another sign that unions are developing another element to their engagement with private equity. So far we've had the air war - ...

I must be thick, but this story doesn't seem to make much sense to me. UK – Claims that private equity firms are driving pension funds into the control of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) have been challenged by new research. According to the research conducted by Close Brothers, companies backed by private equity firms accounted for 29% of the pension schemes that had been forced to e...

Hat-tip to Global Proxy Watch for this one, a paper on agency problems with respect to private equity. Remember the pitch from proponents is that private equity solves the agency problem in the shareholder-company model. I've blogged before that I'm a bit sceptical about this. But this paper looks to do the work properly rather than guess at the problem!Here's the abstract:Abstract: Because a buyo...

Tension between regulators and private equity over planned EU regulation erupted on Thursday, as the Financial Services Authority said the "arrogance" of the buy-out industry had put it in the spotlight

European Commission proposals to regulate alternative investment funds discriminate against private equity and favour direct competitors like sovereign wealth funds or maverick businessmen, Javier Echarri, secretary-general of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA), told EurActiv in an interview.

In Britain anyone who is anyone has a hedge fund, or did. In China, anyone who is anyone’s child has his own private equity firm: Prominent private equity princelings include George Li, a former banker at Merrill Lynch and UBS...

Union leaders and MPs have reacted angrily after it emerged that the private equity group CVC is considering a bid for a minority stake in Royal Mail. CVC, which has stakes in three European postal services, is at the early stages of working on a bid. Its other investments have included the Debenhams store chain and Formula One sports rights. The potential involvement of a private equity company h...

European Commission proposals to regulate alternative investment funds discriminate against private equity and favour direct competitors like sovereign wealth funds or maverick businessmen, Javier Echarri, secretary-general of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA), told EurActiv in an interview.