The Deal Features Insights From Asset Management Partner Jason Brown On Potential Election Considerations for Private Equity Regulations

In The News
April 27, 2020
Attorneys:

A March 26 article published by The Deal titled Election Special: A Reprieve for PEdiscusses how the outcome of the presidential election will shape the regulatory environment for private equity dealmaking. Insights from asset management partner Jason Brown are included in the piece. Enforcement has loosened considerably under the Trump administration, Jason highlights, adding that SEC chairwoman, Mary Jo White adopted a “broken windows” approach where regulators cracked down on minor infractions which marked an era of robust enforcement activity in terms of the number and length of SEC exams. That scrutiny has eased under current SEC chairman Jay Clayton Jason notes, stating “The pace of enforcement has decreased in a material way,” he said. “The frequency of SEC exams has fallen and the average length of an exam--some were longer than year--have been less and less. The exams still happen but the average length has gone down.” Jason adds “We’d expect more of the same if [President] Trump is re-elected.”. 

The article also quotes a Feb. 24 Ropes & Gray asset management alert titled “Proposed Revisions to the Volcker Rule—Prohibitions and Restrictions on Certain Interests in, and Relationships with, Covered Funds.”