Publications
& Policy

As investors in innovative and high-growth companies and start-ups we believe it was necessary to position ourselves on the issue. We support and welcome the EC’s ambitions and 2030 digital targets, and we want to make sure that the PE/VC industry is seen as key enabler of the digital transformation. Moreover, we want to ensure that the EC makes creating the right policy and tax environment to allow the digital transformation one of its priorities as these will be essential in achieving the 2030 digital targets.

A summary of Invest Europe 2020 highlights and achievements across Public Affairs, Industry Data & Research, Communications, Member Events & Training, Industry Standards, Governance & Finance.

"In this follow-up to our 2020 study, we find that more women are working in the alternatives industry now than one year ago. At the close of 2020, just over a fifth (20.3%) of the industry’s employees were female, up from 19.7% at the end of 2019. Venture capital had the highest female representation in the workforce, at 21.8%, up 62bps on the previous year."

In our response we highlight the need for the collection of financial and environmental data in a harmonised way whilst ensuring that this is of the highest quality and foremost reliable. Moreover, we also point out the need of correctly assessing the costs for data providers. We believe is necessary to ensure that no further administrative burden or duplication of information requirements arise as a result of the establishment of the ESAP.

"We are delighted to share our perspective and insights on some of the major industry trends influencing our private equity business, and what this means for 2021 and beyond."

In this letter, Invest Europe expresses its concerns about the draft RTS under SFDR that were published by the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) on 4 February. In particular, we shed light on issues of potential overreach by the ESAs and/or divergence from the Level 1 legislation.

On February 11, Invest Europe hosted a dynamic, online panel discussion among senior industry participants on the CEE region’s dynamic growth potential and opportunities for investors, highlighting recent, successful investment stories (2015 – 2019).

The report offers an in-depth study of private equity’s role in innovation and economic development across Central and Eastern Europe through detailed case studies of companies backed by private equity investors during 2015-2019.

In this consultation response, we have shared our views on the European Commission's Initiative on Sustainable Corporate Governance. Particular areas of focus were directors’ duty of care and due diligence duty. We stressed that while there are a number of good principles behind the idea put forward by the European Commission – such as holding directors accountable for creating real long-term value – it would create significant uncertainties and risks, if directors could be held to account by all different kinds of stakeholders, with no clear prioritisation on how they should weight all the different stakeholders’ interests.

In this response we have expressed our concerns that ESMA has not taken proper account of the differences between the overwhelmingly institutional AIF industry and the retail fund industry, with respect to their respective distribution models. Concretely, ESMA has made some assumptions about the application of MiFID rules in the institutional marketplace which are not necessarily correct. This is particularly relevant in the context of: (i) the categorisation of AIF marketing as a MiFID investment service or activity; and (ii) the disclosure of information on past and expected future performance.

Ahead of the fast approaching application date (10 March 2021), Invest Europe has been in contact with the European Commission to express its concerns about some of the grey areas around SFDR, including the scope of Article 8 and the public disclosures pursuant to Article 10 by private funds.

Becker Friedman institute: PE-owned nursing homes have a lower quality of care than those owned by other types of investors.

"We use competing risks methods to investigate the causal link between venture capital (VC) investments supported by the EIF and the exit prospects and patenting activity of young and innovative firms."

In this consultation response, Invest Europe reiterates that there is no need for a re-opening of the AIFMD because of a variety of factors. In addition, any changes to the AIFMD regime would lead to additional costs and (administrative) burden for the industry as members will need to re-adapt and get to grips with new requirements. If necessary, improvements to the AIFMD regime can be sought via Level 2 or 3 measures, or in the context of other legislative reviews.