IPEV set to release updated guidelines

In the coming weeks, the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation (IPEV) board will unveil a set of reporting guidelines it hopes will help standardise the way GPs share fund information with investors, PE Manager has exclusively learned.

After two years of work IPEV was able to release a draft set of guidelines in April, which started a two month consultation period asking for industry feedback.

After several months of evaluating consultation comments, the board plans to publish its finalised guidelines later this month, according to IPEV Board member David Larsen of Duff & Phelps.

“Expect the overall format to be very similar to the draft that was released in April,” said Larsen. “The primary changes relate to making sure that we are as clear as we can possibly be in our language. This is a document that will be used globally, so it requires a sharp pencil in going through the words to make sure they mean the same thing to different people in different  jurisdictions.”

In time, IPEV will post on its website specific examples of how various funds could report under the guidelines. Doing so is meant to address the problem of how a diverse range of fund types (ranging from venture capital to mega buyouts) could all feasibly follow a similar reporting format for investors to read.

IPEV’s investor reporting  guidelines are principle-based, Larsen said, focusing on  “what” information should be shared with LPs while allowing flexibility for LPS and GPs to agree on “how”  information is presented.