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...

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.

The US House of Representatives voted to hit private-equity executives with higher taxes as part of a piecemeal legislation that would also fund the renewal of tax breaks for large companies.

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 - ...

Managed to miss this last week. More evidence that UK unions are getting into capital stewardship.Unite warns private equity: act responsibly or risk losing our pensions investments 17/07/2008Private equity could soon see its access to pensions funds challenged by unions as concern grows that members' savings are being used to support buyouts which hit jobs and communities.The UK's biggest trade u...

“It’s now or never for the leaders of the world’s biggest economies to make the changes that will support their claims to have learnt the lessons of the financial and economic crises. Oooh aye? “Strict and consistent measures must be put in place to regulate financial markets, particularly in regard to hedge and private equity funds. Private equity

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...

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...