Sidley Austin LLP recently presented a conference entitled “Private Funds 2013: Developments and Opportunities.”  At the conference, Sidley partners offered updates, market color and practice recommendations on hedge and private equity fund structuring, regulation, operations and transactions.  The Hedge Fund Law Report is covering the conference in a three-part article series.  The first article covered the sections of the conference addressing fund structuring developments, single-investor funds, first loss capital arrangements, side letter terms, hard wiring of feeder funds for ERISA purposes, liquidity terms, fee terms, founder share classes and expense allocations and caps.  See “Sidley Austin Private Funds Conference Addresses Recent Developments Relating to Fund Structuring and Terms; SEC Examinations and Enforcement Initiatives; Seeding Arrangements; Fund Mergers and Acquisitions; CPO Regulation; JOBS Act Implementation and Compliance; and Derivatives Reforms (Part One of Three),” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 6, No. 41 (Oct. 25, 2013).  This second installment addresses recent developments in SEC examinations and enforcement (including a discussion of compliance policy violations, valuation practices and allocation of investment opportunities); insider trading issues (including the use of political intelligence firms, expert networks and deputized directors); the SEC’s new policy requiring admissions of wrongdoing and best practices for compliance; seeding arrangements; and fund manager mergers and acquisitions (including a discussion of key terms and negotiating points for such transactions).  The third article in this series will describe regulatory developments impacting fund managers, including commodity pool operator registration and regulation, implementation and compliance with the JOBS Act and derivatives reforms.