The Guidelines Monitoring Group was created in 2007 as an independent body to monitor the private equity industry’s compliance with Sir David Walker’s Guidelines for Disclosure and Transparency in Private Equity.
This was in response to the increased scrutiny and negative publicity the private equity industry faced in 2007 from the media, trade unions and politicians, culminating in the Treasury Select Committee hearings.
Since then, the industry has embraced and adopted these Guidelines with over seventy portfolio companies currently providing additional disclosure voluntarily.
Further detail and reports can be found on the Group’s website http://privateequityreportinggroup.co.uk/
Below are the objectives and benefits of the Guidelines to the private equity industry.
Objectives of the Guidelines
- To demonstrate the private equity industry’s commitment to transparency of its activities
- To provide data to support the private equity industry’s contribution to the UK economy
Benefits of the Guidelines
- The Guidelines provide a framework for the private equity industry to enhance stakeholders’ understanding of our activities and address concerns about a lack of transparency in the industry. These stakeholders include government, regulators, media, employees, customers and the public more widely.
- The data published on the performance of portfolio companies supports the advocacy work the BVCA does on behalf of the private equity industry. It gives us the credibility and evidence we need when discussing the industry’s contribution to the broader economy in terms of employment, productivity, capital investment and growth. This in turn allows for more informed and proportionate decisions on policy and regulation by Government and regulators. It also provides a returns attribution analysis which quantifies the impact of strategic and operational plans implemented under private equity ownership as well as the impact of leverage.
- By publishing annual reports on portfolio company websites and including further disclosure on private equity firms’ websites, the industry is able to demonstrate its commitment to transparency is real and here to stay.
- Enhanced reporting by portfolio companies and disclosures by private equity firms on their investment approach further demonstrates we are responsible owners and builders of businesses. The reputational impact benefits the portfolio company itself as well as its owner and the Guidelines support those portfolio companies with reporting ahead of a listing on a public market.
The Guidelines are monitored by an independent body which further validates the private equity industry’s transparency commitment.
Private equity: updated PERG guidelines on good practice reporting by portfolio companies
On 21 March 2016 the Private Equity Reporting Group (formerly the Walker Guidelines Monitoring Group) published an updated version of its guidance on good practice reporting by private equity portfolio companies under the Walker Guidelines.
The substantive content of the guidance remains largely unchanged from the version published in July 2014 but the examples have been updated and the specific examples of greenhouse gas emissions disclosures have been removed.
Areas highlighted for particular focus and attention are
- gender diversity,
- the business model and
- commenting on human rights as part of the social and community discussions, reflecting the trends identified from the most recent review
For information on the Walker Guidelines, see
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