Private Equity Funds Urged to Regulate Themselves

Private equity firms should start regulating themselves like public entities to brace for the inevitable bursting of the buyout bubble, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Arthur Levitt, told a private equity conference.

As recent high returns come down, fund managers will be under pressure to prop up returns, which could result in ethical lapses, Mr. Levitt said in a speech before the Association for Corporate Growth’s M&A East Conference in Philadelphia.