"Private equity: looking after your money". Could this message be coming to a billboard near you? Not likely, but the decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US regulator, to consider allowing hedge funds to advertise could turn the debate to the private equity industry. It could open the sector to a whole new class of investors if the retail market was allowed to be targeted.

Private equity houses have their hands tied when they hit the fundraising trail if they intend to raid the US for investors. The SEC has the power to slap a freeze on fundraising for six months if a firm looks like it has marketed in the country, including talking to journalists or releasing statements. A fundraising lawyer knows of at least one case where the SEC did this to a European firm and fear of the penalty is, undoubtedly, a sufficient deterrent.