Finding the Key: Canadian Institutional Investors and Private Equity

Appendix II: Summary of Survey Questions

Survey of Canadian Institutional Investors and Private Equity, 2003

Summary of Interview Topics

The following is a brief synopsis of questions posed in interviews with senior officials at corporate and public sector pensions, life insurance companies, endowments/ foundations and other institutions. Officials were sent this synopsis in advance of interviews.

Is your institutional fund currently active in the venture capital/private equity market?

If YES:

What is the nature of your venture capital/private equity program (e.g., founding year, percentage of total assets, target, managed internally or externally, market focus, benchmarks, etc.)? How might your program change over time? *

What factors persuaded trustees/managers to create exposure to this asset class? What are the benefits to your fund?

What barriers were encountered and how were these eventually overcome? What challenges continue to exist?

How often does your institutional fund make new fund commitments (e.g., annually) or invest directly?

In your view, why are other Canadian institutions reluctant to create exposure to venture capital/private equity? ** What potential market or public policy initiatives are required to help change this situation? ***

If NO:

Has your institutional fund ever had exposure to venture capital/private equity as an asset class? If so, what was the nature of that experience and what factors persuaded trustees/managers to discontinue?

Have there been recent internal discussions (e.g., meetings of Board of Trustees/Directors) about launching a venture capital/private equity program. If so, what were the results? If not, why?

Has the asset class ever been researched internally or in consultation with external advisors on investment decisions? In general, what has been advisor feedback, re: costs and benefits?

In the view of trustees/managers, what are the barriers to launching a venture capital/private equity program in the future? **

How might barriers be overcome? Are there potential market or public policy initiatives that could facilitate your institutional fund's becoming active? ***

* Institutions were requested to provide basic data concerning assets under management, founding year, number of employees, details of private equity/alternative asset programs, etc.

** The opinions and experiences of trustees/directors/ managers were most important here, however, as a discussion tool, interviewers also made available a list of previously identified barriers derived from research literature and requested specific feedback.

*** For discussion purposes, interviewing researchers raised examples of recent initiatives.