Private Equity Firms – Form PF Data

Private equity firms that operate private funds with at least $150 million in assets must file a Form PF (“Private Fund”) with the SEC. Individual firm filings are confidential and are therefore not covered under the Freedom of Information Act. I know, because I asked.

That said, the SEC publishes quarterly statistics about these private equity funds in aggregate. Here are a few interesting points from the SEC report:

• The private equity firms collectively operate about 12,000 individual funds.
• For “Section 4 Private Equity Funds” – those firms with more than $2 billion in Assets under Management (AuM) – 95% are located in the U.S., but only 61% of their funds are domiciled in the U.S.
  • 30.4% are domiciled in the Cayman Islands
  • 2.7% United Kingdom
  • 1% Bermuda
  • 1% Canada
• Section 4 private equity funds raise their funds from the following categories of limited partners: