Inbrief

Pressure on the UK private equity industry to open itself up to scrutiny by interested parties rose sharply last month (EP8, issue 9), sparked by comments from Paul Myners, who headed the 2001 review into UK institutional investment. Myners said that when public companies are taken private, ‘they go from being transparent and accountable into a dark box.’ Meanwhile, the GMB union stepped up its campaign against the industry and a motion calling for greater statutory controls on privately owned companies was tabled in the House of Commons. Damon Buffini, managing partner of the private equity firm Permira, subsequently said in his first recorded interview: ‘We do believe that we have to be more open ... [and] to encourage our companies to disclose more’.