1. Private Equity Firms VS Institutional Investors
Increased scrutiny, especially regarding private equity fund investments by public universities and government employee pension funds
Capital preservation and low risk and hence diversification is an important part of their investment goal .Support public education and pay retirement benefits to employees and hence need to be more transparent.
Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies disclosure is sensitive information and could reduce their competitive edge .
Journalists, as well as entrepreneurs looking to commercialize the information, have begun seeking access to information about the performance of private equity funds by submitting requests under the Freedom of Information Act or the relevant state’s analogous statute

2. Disclosure
If any public fund were a limited partner in a partnership that made a private equity investment in the Coca-Cola Company
Knowledge of the secret recipe for the Coca-Cola soft drink, that public fund would be required to disclose to the public, and Coke’s competitors, that secret formula – “one of the most closely guarded secrets in American industry “
Public disclosure of proprietary information by any one partner in a private equity partnership destroys the value of that information for all partners, not just the partner making the disclosure.
Basic private property rights for any private company unlucky to have a public fund as an investor. Who would make such risky investments in research and new technologies if the results were required to be disclosed publicly to those who had made no investments?

3. Disclosure Norms Private equity funds disclosure
“Absolute Exemption” which exists for information which, if disclosed, would result in an actionable breach of confidence.
Whether or not information is considered to be sufficiently “confidential” to meet the requirements is debatable.
“Commercial Interests” exemption, which states that information that is a trade secret or which, if disclosed, could prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority) is exempt from disclosure.
Keeping the information confidential outweighs the public interest in its disclosure .What is Public interest due to non-disclosure/disclosure?

4. Hassles For Private Equity Funds
Information management Systems
Monitoring public authority disclosure processes
Contractual right to notification
Avoid physical handover of information
Taking Prompt legal action

5. Cost Of Disclosure to Public Funds
Billions of dollars of public funds would very likely be excluded from private capital investments in successful private equity and venture capital partnerships.
Would have to invest in the public equity markets. Historically, the endowments in Private Equity Investments have outperformed the public equity markets by more than 4.0% per year. Losing this return differential would cost the University and Pension system
If Public Funds are not welcome in Private Capital Partnerships, venture capital jobs and revenues will not be created.
Why would capital from outside a state choose an investor and private business in an unfriendly state?
Doesn't it seem counterproductive and inconsistent that on the one hand state government is attempting to compete for jobs with its “Enterprise Fund Investments”, while simultaneously making it unwelcome to the Private Capital industry with onerous disclosure policies?