European Private Equity managers are now starting to move towards portal based online reporting to their LPs.
US GPs have been using online reporting for a number of years but in recent months there has been a strong trend to follow from UK and European GPs.
Augentius has had the capability to provide secure portal based online reporting for over three years but initially there was little interest. However within the last six months there has been a definite move towards this technology from Augentius’ client base.
SunGuardDX and Intralinks have been the most popular services used in Europe. Reporting is automatically uploaded from Augentius to the secure web service and the LPs are sent an automated email advising that a new report has been issued. Individual LPs can see their own reports and GPs can provide access to a wide range of documents including LPAs in a fully secure environment.
SunGardDX is now used by over 3,600 funds reporting to nearly 32,500 users, with Intralinks providing reports to over 55,000 users in a broader market, not just funds. Augentius anticipate that, over time, web-based LP communication will become the generally accepted methodology for, not only financial reports but also drawdowns and distributions.
The technology also possesses the capability for more of an inclusive, two-way form of communication with both investors and portfolio companies via the web and Augentius anticipate that this will be the future. Investors are able to check and change their contact and bank information in a secure workflow environment.
GPs can also use this technology with their portfolio companies using it to receive financial information via the secure web portal with the data then automatically uploaded into accounting and other systems via secure workflow technology.
In some instances this is already happening particularly in the US. It is only a matter of time before UK and European GPs embrace the use of this technology to interact more efficiently with both their Investors and Portfolio Companies.