dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT
“Because of this reform, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes. There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts -- period.”
Barack Obama1
After the global financial crisis which led to calls for changes in financial changes in the Unites States and elsewhere. In 2009, the U.S. President Barack Obama proposed a plan of a ‘sweeping overhaul of the United States financial regulatory system, a transformation on a scale not seen since the reforms that followed the Great Depression.’2
The U.S. Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 Act3 (hereinafter, the Dodd-Frank Act)4, trying to prevent the financial crisis in 2008.5 The main purpose of this Dodd-Frank Act is to limit highly risk-taking activities by banks and financial institutions.6There is one particular section which has the potential to change the relationship between private equity funds and financial institutions: section 619, also known as the “Volcker Rule.”7 It prohibits “banking entities” 8from acquiring or retaining “any equity, partnership, or other ownership interest in or sponsoring a hedge fund or a private equity fund” 9 after July 21, 2015.10
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the term “private equity fund”11 includes any entity that would be classified as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940,but for the specific exceptions found in sections 3(c)(1) and 3(c)(7) of that statute.”
Private equity has skyrocketed to be a major player in the global economic. However, private equity funds somehow manage to avoid public securities regulations and also to avoid investor suits successfully.12 Therefore, some risks and regulations related to private equity should be taken into serious considerations.
There are two big private equity related incidents in Taiwan. Back in 2007 the Carlyle Group LP failed to make a deal with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc.,13which would have be the biggest takeover of a Taiwanese company ever. Then, in 2011, the U.S. private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts tried to bid for YAGEO Corp - despite a majority of minority shareholders accepting the deal. This time Taiwan’s Investment Commission rejected this plan for the concerns about leverage and the protection of minority shareholders.14 Under the condition that there were more than 60% shareholder approve that plan.15 Although both of those plans fail to succeed, many issues related to private equity funds still worth discussing.
This paper comparatively examines the risks and regulations of private equity funds mainly in the United States, the People’s Republic of China and in Taiwan (the Republic of China). In the end of this paper, based on the research results, we provide policy suggestions and regulation recommendations for the regulators.
Key | en_US |