Big private equity backers have raised concerns that some of their peers may be waving through controversial deals where buyout firms sell companies to themselves, adding a fresh twist to worries about conflicts of interest inherent in the transactions.
Investors, including one big sovereign wealth fund and one of the biggest US public pension plans, told the FT they were worried about whether some institutions rubber-stamp asset sales to continuation vehicles when such a deal could benefit their other business lines.
Some large private capital firms invest in traditional buyout funds and also have secondaries businesses that back continuation vehicles — the dedicated entities set up by buyout firms to purchase assets from their older funds.