Foreign PE enterprises should gear up for evolving legal regime

Private equity (PE) players must pay attention to new operational rules and make prospective arrangements to keep up with the rapidly-changing legal environment.

On February 22, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) published an announcement on its website that it had issued a new law further governing the registration and administration of private equity (PE) funds. The Circular on Further Regulating the Development and the Administration by Record Filing of Equity Investment Enterprises in Pilot Areas (关于进一步规范试点地区股权投资企业发展和备案管理工作的通知)(the Circular) was distributed to provincial governments, but has not been published to the general public. It will apply in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Hubei.

The Circular is a significant attempt from the central government to regulate PE players in the Chinese market. Most current state and local PE regulations are general and focused on market entrance and incentive policies, but the Circular focuses on detailed operational issues of PE funds. William Liu, a Shanghai-based partner at Boss & Young said: “The Chinese government is adopting certain experiences and practices prevailing in more developed PE markets, such as information disclosure, voting for affiliate transaction, and moderate supervision, among other things.”