Europe: Parliament votes on hedge funds and private equity

Members of the European Parliament yesterday voted to make a formal request to the European Commission to develop legislation concerning the regulation of financial markets, hedge funds and private equity investors. Further information is available in the European Parliament's press release, in which it is stated: 

Parliament wants more transparency on voting by hedge funds in general meetings, calling for exploration of whether intermediaries should be obliged to enable original shareholders to participate actively in voting. It wants to see a code of practice on how to rebalance corporate governance structures to reinforce a long-term orientation. MEPs ask for an investigation of securities lending and voting on borrowed shares. It also asks whether reporting requirements should apply to cooperation agreements between several shareholders".

Notes:

[1] The texts adopted by the European Parliament are available here and here (these links were added on 25 September)

[2] On 22 September, Internal Market Commissioner McCreevy delivered a short speech addressing some of the issues addressed by the European Parliament, particularly concerning hedge funds and private equity.

[3] A short report on the European Parliament's vote, from the International Herald Tribune, is available here.