Economist in the house

Peter Cornelius: the road to AlpInvest

BVCA asks for less red tape
The chairman and chief executive officer of the British Venture Capital Association have each separately spoken out on their belief that the government should cut the red tape around the UK private equity industry. On December 5, Vincent O'Brien, the current chairman of the BVCA, addressed the All Party Group for Private Equity and Venture Capital at the UK House of Commons. Among other comments, O'Brien pointed out that the UK is one of only two formally regulated private equity and venture capital industries in the world. He asked that regulators consider the cost and burden of regulation and the effect that might have on the UK's leading role within European private equity. In a press release issued last month, BVCA chief executive Peter Linthwaite said the association continued to support the easing of certain burdensome regulations on UK private equity firms, including the Approved Persons and the Training and Competency regimes. ?We do not believe that the ending of requirements for prescriptive qualifications would diminish the integrity or quality of the UK as one of the World's leading financial centres,? Linthwaite said in the statement. ?We believe that the FSA's proposals would still allow firms to develop their own, or use currently available, qualifications or training to ensure a consistent competency across their employee base.?

NVCA lobbies against Ohio disclosure
The National Venture Capital Association has been a key player in the ongoing public-disclosure saga surrounding the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, which is evaluating whether to release sensitive portfolio company data of dozens of private equity funds in its portfolio (see story p. 8). Last month, the trade association for US venture capital firms issued a press release and sent a letter to the Ohio BWC ?strongly discouraging the release? of the data, according to a member alert from the NVCA. ?We are monitoring this situation closely and plan to support our member firms and the venture industry in this process through whatever means are appropriate,? the alert read, noting the association had retained the services of Goodwin Procter attorney Carl Metzger to advise on the matter.

SEC fines investment bankers for political gifts
The Securities and Exchange Commission has fined three executives at CIBC World Markets for engaging in securities work for the State of California within two years of the firm contributing $10,000 to the reelection campaign of Governor Gray Davis. Municipal securities rules dictate that two years must pass before donors may perform securities work for relevant state clients. The rules do not apply to the private equity industry. Without admitting wrongdoing, CIBC agreed to disgorge a $379,852 underwriting fee, plus $42,106 in interest, plus a $75,000 civil penalty. Peter Crowley, a managing director, and Paul Rogers, the president of CIBC, were each fined $25,000. Robert Dentice, a business manager of investment banking, was cited by the SEC for violations, but not fined. The municipal bond industry adopted measures in 1994 to guard against ?pay-toplay? abuses, by which political donations are made to politicians in the expectation that securities work will be steered to the donor's firm.

Rutland Partners promotes finance director
London-based private equity firm Rutland Partners has promoted Neel Das to partner in charge of finance. Das joined Rutland in 2003 as director of finance. Prior to that he was a director in the M&A practice of KPMG in the US. He later moved to London to launch venture firm Benchmark Capital's European office. Rutland specializes in investing in UK companies that face difficult strategic challenges or which may be underperforming, in need of restructuring or entering a period of change. It was founded in 1986 by Michael Langdon, a Price Waterhouse partner.