Accurate asset values increasingly hard to achieve

Industry calls for clarity as double Arch cru fund suspension highlights the vagaries of the rules surrounding valuation of private equity assets

The suspension of the two Arch cru funds, that are invested in private equity-type investments including some Guernsey-listed closed-ended funds, highlights the difficulty in achieving accurate and timely asset values. The two funds, which had assets of over £300m, had a very steady unit price rise which then sharply reversed only shortly before the suspension of dealing in the funds by authorised corporate director Capita. An accurate value for the underlying investments is now being constructed and once this is complete advisers will have a clearer idea of when they will be able to re...