The British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association has backed the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services comments regarding private equity regulation.
Commissioner Charlie McCreevy says that the Walker Guidelines, a framework for private equity firms to disclose their finances, are a hindrance to the industry, saying that a frantic search for corrective actions threatens to deprive capital-starved industries of much needed capital.
The BVCA has come out in full support of the Commissioners call for self-regulation instead and believes that greater transparency will keep trigger happy regulators at bay.
A major concern for the Association is that the guidelines do not fit all private equity firms, citing small firms with funds of less than 2 million as being disproportionally affected. The BVCA claims that mandatory disclosure of detailed annual data for such firms is akin to taking a sledge hammer to a nut.
The independent Guidelines Monitoring Group will reportedly be looking at the thresholds for Walker compliance next month.
D.C.