SEC Expands Police Squad – Fund Violations Surpass 50% The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in connection with the Dodd-Frank Act, has a dedicated team for the examination of private equity and hedge funds, and is now pushing to increase its 2015 budget and add up to 316 staff to…

If MOM says NO, the deal don't go! Corporate transactions are on the rise, and increased activity results in an increase in shareholder challenges. A recent WSJ article stated that 94% of U.S. public company deals were challenged by shareholders last year versus 44% in 2007. Lawsuits are typically directed…

Chicago, Illinois – March 2014 – Houlihan Capital, a financial advisory and boutique investment banking firm, that provides independent and defensible opinions of value that meet accounting and regulatory requirements, announced today that it has completed a SOC 1 (Service Organization Control) Type 1 examination. The examination was performed by…

The SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations ("OCIE") previously named valuation practices as one of its areas of focus in both investment advisor and investment company examinations and recently again highlighted valuation as one of its examination priorities for 2014. On January 9, OCIE published its examination priorities for…

SEC Increases Scrutiny of Valuation of Alternative Fund Investments A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators are increasing scrutiny of how alternative funds, including hedge funds, value their investments in illiquid holdings, noting that unscrupulous fund managers may falsely inflate…