Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant wrote to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (now the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills) to request information regarding Actis, the private equity fund manager in which the government holds a 40% stake. The public authority disclosed some information requested by the complainant but withheld details of the calculations used to arrive at a valuation for Actis when it was sold to its management after it was -�spun out-� from the Commonwealth Development Corporation. The public authority claimed this information was exempt under section 43(2) of the Act as disclosure would prejudice the commercial interests of Actis and the Government. The Commissioner has investigated the complaint and has found that the information held by the public authority which relates to the calculations used to arrive at a valuation for Actis is exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. The Commissioner also found that the public authority breached section 10(1) (time for compliance) and section 17(3)(b) (refusal of a request) of the Act in its handling of the request but requires no steps to be taken.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Partly Upheld, FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 43 - Complaint Not upheld