US private equity professionals have delivered a stinging rebuke to new regulation being proposed for the country’s alternative investment industry – with only 4% of attendees at a Dow Jones conference in New York backing the plans to help the sector emerge from the financial crisis stronger.

In a poll of the conference participants - which included private equity executives, limited partners, industry group representatives and journalists - 41% said they expected US President Barack Obama's policies to have some negative impact on private equity and another 29% said they would have a highly negative impact. A total of 27% said they would have little impact, while just 4% said his policies would help the industry.