Monday, June 6, 2022

PEUs Don't Want to Disclose Most Basic Information


WSJ
reported the SEC may ask private equity underwriters (PEU) to provide more information to public pension funds.  The article stated:

Pension plans and other institutional investors are embracing a federal proposal that would force hedge funds and private-equity funds to provide more disclosures to investors.

University endowments, insurance funds and retirement funds serving teachers andfirefighters are urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to move forward with a proposed rule that would ensure private fund investors receive annual audits and quarterly financial statements.

I don't know why pension funds haven't made that a requirement for investing worker money in private equity offerings.  They should have control over the terms of investing their funds.  Did CalPERS part ownership of The Carlyle Group prevent that from happening in the early days?

The PEU boys and Red Team politicians have criticized the effort.  Surely they generate quarterly financial statements and conduct annual audits.  Why don't they want to share?  

Recall this is the investment class that politicians want to make available for individual retirement accounts (IRAs and 401k accounts). 

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one. 

Update 10-27-22:  Guest on CNBC talked about PEUs not marking down holdings over a period when the public market was down 18%.