Private Equity Players Launch Data Alliance with AltExchange

With around 30 members committed thus far, AltExchange Alliance is composed of leading limited (LPs) and general partners (GPs), as well as fund of funds and administrators, and is set to build on previous guidelines developed separately by the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) and Institutional Private Equity Valuation (IPEV) group.

Greater standardization has long been sought to facilitate better communication between GPs and LPs and, where required, produce deeper drill-down for reporting at the portfolio-company level as requirements around transparency evolve.

"We are often asked to provide varied levels of information to our investors. By adopting an industry standard, we can use a single format for all interested parties, enabling us to provide a more efficient and timely service for our investors. We encourage our investors to join the Alliance," says Ed Brandman, Chief Information Officer of global investment firm KKR (formerly Kohlberg Kravis Roberts), and one of the founding members of AltExchange.

The push comes after a few years of steady progress connecting funded companies' financial platforms with GPs' and private equity advisories' internal portals, through both in-house builds and offerings like Blackstone's recently spun-off iLevel. 

More on the initiative to come in the coming weeks and the June issue of Waters.