Code of conduct for UK private equity firms gains adherence

UK private equity firms have begun to embrace the voluntary guidelines promulgated just before the financial crisis pushed then out of the headlines as the bad boys of the financial world. The negative press they had received was probably misinformed, but it led to a move that was probably a good thing: disclosure of the working practices of private equity firms and greater reporting about the companies in which they invest. The findings of the fourth annual review by the Walker Guidelines Monitoring Group identified a higher level of overall compliance than in previous years. "These results are particularly encouraging as the Group has continued to raise the required standard of overall disclosure," it said. Nonetheless, the quality of disclosure varied significantly. The portfolio companies who tested the best report at a level equivalent to, or in advance of, FTSE 350 companies, it concluded.

Source document: The GMG monitoring report is a 36-page pdf file.