Nominations are open for the 2010 Clawbies, , honoring the best in Canadian legal blogs. My old blog, KM Space, was a past two-time winner of a Clawbie: Friend of the North 2007 and Friend of the North 2008. Compliance Building stayed on the Clawbie list for 2009. It looks like I didn’t pay much … Read more »
Which Real Estate Fund Managers are Registered with the SEC?
After looking at whether a fund manager is an investment adviser and whether real estate is a security, I looked at the Private Equity Real Estate News list of the 30 biggest private equity real estate firms in the world (.pdf). (Disclosure: my company is on the list.) How many of them are already registered … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for December 3
Here are some recent compliance-related stories that caught my attention: Transparency International Alleges Intimidation in Pakistan by Joe Palazzolo in WSJ.com’s Corruption Currents Transparency International says its branch in Pakistan has received death threats from government officials, in connection with the anti-corruption organization’s agreement with the U.S. to monitor aid flows to the country. Syed … Read more »
Job Description For CCOs of Advisers to Private Investment Funds
Back in 2005, Associate Director Office of Compliance Inspection and Examinations of the SEC, Gene Gohlke gave a speech addressing hedge funds who would soon have to register under the doomed hedge fund rule. He focused on what the funds needed in a Chief Compliance Officer. Rule 206(4)-7 requires a registered investment adviser to designate … Read more »
Calculating Regulatory Assets Under Management for Private Funds
For private fund managers, one troubling aspect of Form ADV had been the calculation of “assets under management” in item 5.F. If securities are less than 50% of the portfolio then the portfolio would not be a securities account. Except for real estate debt funds, most real estate funds would end up with $0. (I’m … Read more »
Yes, the SEC Wants Real Estate Fund Managers to Register
Earlier I had pointed out how a real estate fund manager could be considered an investment adviser and have to register with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act. In the Proposed Changes to Form ADV published on November 19, the SEC has made it clear that real estate funds are part of the mix. … Read more »
The Newspaper Rule and a Massachusetts Politician
One of the classic statements in a compliance program is “don’t do something if you would be embarrassed to see a story about it on the front page of the newspaper.” Just because something is legal, it does not mean it’s ethical or a good thing to do. A recent example popped up in Massachusetts … Read more »
Happy Thanksgiving
That means an extra long weekend for me. Down the road at Plimouth Plantation they hold onto the belief that the first Thanksgiving in the United States happened in 1621 at their location: The history of Thanksgiving goes much further back than Plymouth and 1621. In fact, people across the world from every culture have … Read more »
The US Private Equity Fund Compliance Guide
One of the struggles with implementing a compliance program for a private equity fund is that the Investment Advisers Act is targeted at retail operations dealing with relatively liquid investments. Neither fits well with the private equity model of institutional investors and large, illiquid transactions. Most of the guidance and discussion about how to implement … Read more »
The SEC Defines Venture Capital
The SEC is moving much faster in releasing proposed rules after the SEC Open Meetings. After Friday morning’s open meeting discussing the exemption from registration for venture capital funds, the SEC has released the full text of the proposed rule merely several hours later. I have been waiting to see how broad this exemption will … Read more »