Regulation of Private Equity Funds in Nigeria: The Preference for Offshore Domiciled Private Equity Fund

Abstract

There are elaborate regulatory regimes across different jurisdictions to ensure critical regulatory oversight over the private funds industry to which private equity (PE) funds belong. Such regulation typically focuses on either the adviser/manager of a fund, the fund itself, or both (as will be shown to be the case in Nigeria). The aim of this paper is to examine the regulation of PE funds in Nigeria vis-a-vis advanced jurisdictions like United States (U.S.) and United Kingdom (U.K.). Analyses in this paper aim to reveal that whilst it is important for every jurisdiction (including Nigeria) to regulate the private funds industry, the extant disclosure requirement that PE funds and advisers are subject to under the current Nigerian regulatory framework may discourage the domiciliation of PE funds in Nigeria. The author therefore canvasses for a possible change to the current regulatory framework for PE funds in Nigeria.