Category Archives: Investment management

Fortune’s Dan Primack Takes Up CalPERS’ Private Equity Scandal, Calls Head of Private Equity “Factually Wrong”

Dan Primack of Fortune has weighed in on what he calls the private equity “mess” at CalPERS, in an important new story, “CalPERS still can’t get out of its own way on private equity.”

Congressional Black Caucus Still Trying to Hurt Their Constituents By Killing the Labor Department Fiduciary Rule

Last year, the Huffington Post published the definitive take on the Congressional Black Caucus’ frequent sellouts to Wall Street, and how Maxine Waters has attempted to shut it down. Their public image as the conscience of the Congress belies a coziness with bank lobbyists and an open willingness to do their bidding. Ten CBC members […]

CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Defends Tax Abuse as Investor Benefit

CalPERS Chief Investment Officer made statements to the Investment Committee that are demonstrably false. As a video of the August Investment Committee meeting shows, Eliopoulos apparently does not grasp how a common tax avoidance scheme by general partners is not beneficial to limited partners. Even worse, he failed to mention that the IRS has recently proposed rules to end this tax abuse.

CalPERS Staff Demonstrates Repeatedly That They Don’t Understand How Private Equity Fees Work

The oversimplifications, mistakes, and refusals to answer basic questions by CalPERS staff members at the last Investment Committee meeting of its board suggest that CalPERS has so little understanding of private equity that it cannot responsibly invest in that strategy at all. These errors related to concepts that are fundamental to understanding the economics of a private equity investments and hence to negotiating them.

Senior Private Equity Officers at CalPERS Do Not Understand How They Guarantee That Private Equity General Partners Get Rich

Over the course of the last Investment Committee meeting of the CalPERS Board of Directors, many of the statements made by senior members of CalPERS’ investment staff showed a lack of understanding of basic issues, such as the industry’s economics and how widely-used contract terms operate.

CalPERS’ Private Equity, Exposed: Executive Summary

Senior private equity professionals at CalPERS do not understand the economics of private equity funds, raising questions about the staff’s competence.

You Don’t Need to Hire Rapacious Private Equity Firms to Get Their Returns

A new paper by Brian Chingono and Dan Rasmussen shows how to beat the average private equity fund’s return by a solid margin.

The Decline in Market Liquidity

While the Fed isn’t worried about the fall in market liquidity, experts argue that if investors make abrupt changes in their portfolios, the lack of liquidity could produce a crisis.

Another Private Equity Scam – Tax Receivable Agreements

As one tax expert put it, “Private equity is a tax gimmick with an acquisition attached.” We’re going to discuss a very big tax gimmick that virtually no private equity investors seem to be aware of. The failure of private equity general partners to publicize a tax scheme that on paper should benefit their limited […]

Asset Management and Financial Stability

The growth of the asset management industry has raised concerns about its potential impacts on financial stability. This column assesses the systemic risk created by fund managers’ incentive problems and a first-mover advantage for end investors. Fund flows and fund ownership affect asset prices, and fund managers’ behaviour can amplify risks. This lends support to the expansion and strengthening of industry oversight, both at the individual fund and market levels.

Chovanec: China Destroyed Its Stock Market

China apparently did not get the memo about not letting stock market leverage get out of hand.

How Pension Funds, Universities and Endowments Pay for Private Equity Private Jets

One of the class markers of the private equity industry is that its members routinely fly on private jets. That’s because the larger and even some of the smaller firms charge their private jet travel to private equity portfolio companies.

California State Treasurer Takes Up CalPERS Private Equity Carry Fee Reporting Lapse After NC Readers Press Him

The top elected official on CalPERS’ board, State Treasurer John Chiang, says he wants CalPERS to get serious about providing carry fee data. That’s a good start, but board members like Chiang need to get serious about addressing how CalPERS’ staff shirks its fiduciary duties and evades board oversight.

Top Private Equity Reporter: CalPERS is Either Lying or Has “a Massive Breakdown in Financial Controls”

CalPERS is suffering a richly deserved hit to its reputation by virtue being too chummy with private equity general partners and thus neglecting its duties as a fiduciary.