Thank you. As is customary, I will note that I am not speaking on behalf of the Commission or SEC staff.
Today, I’d like to talk about private funds, and the importance of certain of these funds—in particular, private equity and hedge funds—to our capital markets.
Why do these funds matter?
First, they matter because they’re large, and they’re growing in size, complexity, and number. Altogether, U.S. private funds have gross assets under management of $17 trillion with net assets of $11.5 trillion. [1] The sheer size and transaction activities of these funds represent a critical portion of our overall capital markets.
Hedge funds have gross assets of at least $8.8 trillion and net assets valued at about $4.7 trillion. Private equity funds gross assets of $4.7 trillion and net assets of $4.2 trillion. [2]
More than those figures, though, these funds matter because of what, or who, stands on either side of them.
The funds pool the money of other people: the limited partners. Many of these limited partners may be in the audience today.
