IPEV goes global

IPEV, the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Guidelines Board, has added eight new members and ?secured global representation.? The expansion comes as US general partners prepare for their first fiscal year of reporting under FAS 157 regulations.

Five of the new members are Americans: Stephen Holmes of Inter-West Partners, William Franklin of Conversus Asset Management, Bill Hupp of Adams Street Partners, David Larsen of Duff & Phelps, and Michael Maher of US Venture Partners. Franklin is a manging director; Holmes, Hupp and Maher are chief financial officers, and Larsen is a managing director in Duff & Phelps's financial consulting group.

Two of the new electees are European: Capital Dynamics managing director Katharina Lichtner and Inflexion Private Equity chief operating officer Darren Jordan. Barry Zuckerman, finance director of Australia's CHAMP Private Equity, rounds out the group.

IPEV's valuation guidelines were issued in March 2005. The guidelines are based on the principle of ?fair value,? and are consistent with US GAAP and IFRS. The guidelines have been endorsed by 35 private equity and venture capital associations around the world.

The board has a monitoring role and gives guidance on the application of those guidelines to private equity and venture capital stakeholders. The majority of the board members are also affiliated with other trade organizations, among them the British, French, Canadian, European and Australian PE and VC trade bodies.

Holmes and Larsen are also members of the PEIGG (Private Equity Industry Guidelines Group), a US organization that was founded in 2002 to promulgate its own set of fair value standards. The PEIGG standards were last updated in March of 2007. Holmes and Larsen's addition to the IPEV board comes ahead of a planned review of the IPEV guidelines this year, in which the board plans to more closely align IPEV's standards with those of PEIGG.

?The objective of this review is to achieve global recognition and application for private equity valuation guidelines,? IPEV said in a statement.

?Valuation of financial instruments has attracted a lot of attention lately,? Larsen says. ?Therefore it is fundamental to emphasize that the private equity and venture capital industry has been very proactive toward its investors by developing widely recognized valuation guidelines.?

Apposite Capital appoints IR Manager
London-based Apposite Capital has announced the appointment of Valerie Auffray as investor relations manager. Valerie will manage the firm's overall investor relations and communications activities as well as its fundraising efforts for the healthcare-focused firm. Auffray has over seven years' experience in providing PR and IR consultancy to biotech and healthcare companies. Prior to joining Apposite Capital, Valerie was an associate director at Citigate Dewe Rogerson, an internal communications consultancy firm. She worked with a number of biotech companies at all stages of development across Europe and advised clients on financial transactions, including private fundraisings, IPOs and M&A, as well as crisis communications. ?Her expertise will be invaluable and will significantly enhance our investor relations, communications and fundraising functions, which are critical in supporting the continued success of the firm,? said David Porter, a managing partner at Apposite, in a statement.

Permira hires CFO as senior adviser
Permira, the UK-headquartered private equity firm, has appointed former North Fork Bancorporation chief financial officer and executive vice president Daniel Healy as senior advisor to the firm. Adding to the firm's nine-person team in New York, Healy will advise on investment opportunities across a variety of sectors with a focus on financial services. From 1992 to 2006, Healy was CFO of the New York-based commercial banking company North Fork where he was responsible for financial accountability, compliance, risk management and M&A strategies. During his 14-year tenure, Healy negotiated and managed 16 mergers and acquisitions culminating with the December 2006 acquisition of North Fork by Capital One Financial Corporation. ?Dan brings a valuable set of skills and tremendous insight to Permira that will be instrumental to the firm's growth as we commit significant resources in expanding our business in the US and abroad,? said Permira co-managing partner Tom Lister in a statement. Healy is the second senior North Fork executive to join a private equity firm in recent months. Former chief executive John Kansas joined WL Ross as a senior advisor in February.

British Virgin Islands sees upswing in PE
Walkers, the global offshore law firm, reports increased corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, investment funds, and private equity work in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). ?The new BVI Business Companies Act has given the jurisdiction a favorable statutory merger regime,? said Jack Boldarin, the head of Walkers corporate and finance department, in a statement announcing three new hires for the firm's BVI office. ?BVI investment funds and private equity funds are also taking advantage of the flexibility of the provisions of the BVI Business Companies Act, which provides some unique features particularly favorable to investment funds and private equity funds, such as the ability to incorporate companies which have the power to issue an unlimited number of shares,? said Heidi de Vries, managing partner of Walkers' BVI office. ?Such statutory provisions are contributing to the popularity of the BVI as a jurisdiction for the establishment of hedge funds and private equity funds. The growth of fund formations in the BVI in recent years has resulted in the BVI now being recognized worldwide as the most popular offshore jurisdiction for the establishment of fund vehicles behind the Cayman Islands.? In response, Walkers established an investment funds and private equity department in its BVI office earlier this year, doubling the number of funds lawyers in that office, and plans to add more lawyers before the end of the year.