London | The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has started investigating the seismic shift of capital from public markets towards private equity, with ASIC chairman Joe Longo saying the issue was “floating to the top” of his in-tray.

He said ASIC was concerned about the impact of the drop in initial public offerings (IPOs), and would look for potential issues emerging from the faster growth of private markets. This follows the Reserve Bank of Australia recently raising similar concerns.