“What forms of investor communications are strictly electronic?”

John DiBello,General Partner, COO and CFO US Operations, TVM, Boston:

Several years ago, TVM began distributing its quarterly reports in electronic form. Investors are sent emails with an attached PDF file containing the report.

Recently, TVM has implemented a web-based software product that enhances and facilitates our investor communications. Each investor has been given a unique password to access information through a secure website. Investors are informed each time an event occurs (distribution of a quarterly report, notice of a capital call, investor letter, etc.) and they are directed to the website to view the related correspondence.

Initially, TVM is providing investors with both an email of the document and the ability to access the document through the secure website. In addition to current communications, investors can access previous correspondence and historic documents such as partnership agreements, subscription agreements, etc.

We also intend to use this platform to enhance communications in our next fundraising effort. Investor reaction has been positive, and the need for paper communication has been significantly reduced over the last few years.

Mads Ryum Larsen, Partner and Head of IR, Industri Kapital, London

As users of the web and email become more sophisticated Industri Kapital believes that all forms of written investor communications can now be published electronically.

Timeliness is important for investors, as is a constant open dialogue. IK views electronic communications as an essential tool for satisfying these demands.

Recently we have taken the decision to send out investor communications electronically. Initially we have begun this transition by distributing our interim reporting via email. This includes capital calls, distribution notices and updates on IK's new acquisitions and recent exits.

Electronic reporting can also enable investors to store historical data more efficiently, and with the advent of web reporting GPs can create virtual data rooms via secure extranets. IK intends to have implemented this stage of our programme in time for our annual reporting towards the end of 2005.

Personal communication and interaction will always be the preferred way for IK to build and maintain investor relationships. However the time saved through electronic reporting will enable these key exchanges to happen more often and be more meaningful.

Ken Olisa,Chairman and CEO, Interregnum plc, London

The future of disclosure has been presaged by the SEC's so-call ?Reg FD?; the rule which requires full and equal disclosure of material company facts to all parties.

As a result, the boards of public companies, at least in the US, have become obsessed with ensuring that anything that they say which has to do with performance is simultaneously available to as wide an audience as possible.

?Electronic reporting can enable investors to store historical data more efficiently – Mads Ryum Larsen

This need has had, and will continue to have, a profound effect on electronic communications of company information. Today, good sites offer a vast range of on-line information from access to all publicly filed documents through to recordings of analyst calls and results presentations.

All of these offerings are currently passive repositories of historical information. The next step will be for the sites to become interactive, with investors being able to hold audio and video dialogues with management (recorded and made publicly available to conform to Reg FD) and to explore a company's performance by experimenting with ?what-if?? models in the style of traditional business games

Like Pandora's box, Reg FD has unleashed a force which cannot be reversed and electronic communication provides a cost-effective way for companies to comply. The really exciting stage will be reached when organizations realize that the power lies notin compliance but in competitive advantage and when boards with foresight start to use the full range of options from websites, phone alerts, internet TV programs and the like to build better stakeholder communities than those of their competitors.