The British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) says the Government should reconsider amendments to the Pensions Bill in the House of Lords that would give the Pensions Regulator “sweeping new powers which are so ill-defined that we fear their effect will be to kill off takeovers and investment in businesses with defined pension schemes,” BVCA leaders wrote in a letter to the Government.
“We very much agree with the Government that the interests of pensioners must be safeguarded. But there has been absolutely no evidence to suggest that the Regulators current powers are insufficient to protect scheme members,” says the letter, which is signed by Simon Walker, the BVCA’s chief executive; Allen Blewitt, chief executive of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants; Christine Elliott, chief executive of the Institute for Turnaround; and Keith Barton, chairman of the Association of Consulting Actuaries.
“Furthermore,” the letter says, “even if one accepts the argument that the Government is right to anticipate all future possible threats, then the proper thing to do would be to set down in legislation the powers that the Regulator will have and the circumstances in which he can exercise them. That way, everyone would know where they stand. Instead, the Government plans to leave the Regulators powers vague and to give it the right to intervene retrospectively for up to six years after a deal has gone though. Their only reassurance has been to say in effect that they are sure the Regulator will do the right thing and behave reasonably. No matter how reasonable the Regulator may be personally, these moves have already caused many deals to be aborted and stopped further ones from happening. Lawyers are giving explicit legal advice against investment because of these changes.”
The full text of the letter is available on the BVCA’s website .