Category Archives: Investment management

How Hedge Fund Activists Coopted “Shareholder Democracy”

How hedge fund activists, who largely operate as a type of corporate raider, have subverted the notion of “shareholder democracy” and what can be done to rein them in.

CalPERS Loses Over $500 Million on Botched Timber Investment; May Have Sold at Bottom of Market

CalPERS wrongfoots another big alternative assets investment, this one in timber.

Wolf Richter: Tesla Discloses Worst Quarterly Loss Ever, But Where Are the 17,000 Model 3 Cars it “Produced” But Didn’t “Deliver”?

So far, the SEC and investors are ignoring Tesla’s sus-looking production figures.

Why Is CalSTRS Continuing to Out-Perform CalPERS?

Not surprisingly, CalPERS’ performance leaves much to be desired.

Michael Olenick: Update Confirms That Share Buybacks Are Still Corporate Suicide

Reconfirming the findings of a study that debunked some key claims about the supposed benefit of stock buybacks.

Richard Murphy: Stock Markets Look Ever More Like Ponzi Schemes

Why is it entirely sensible to regard stock markets as Ponzi schemes.

Some Public Pension Funds Give KKR a Wet Noodle Lashing Over Toys ‘R’ Us Collapse

Not surprisingly, action in the wake of private equity investors Bain, KKR and Vornado stiffing Toys ‘R’ Us workers of their severance have generated more press than restitution. But some of the ideas bruited about would have real teeth.

Will Investors Like CalPERS Fall for Private Equity’s Long-Lived Fund Con?

Beware of the private equity “innovation,” the long-lived or “permanent capital” fund. It is virtually guaranteed to short change investors on returns needed to compensate for the longer holding period.

Finally: SEC Frets about Share Buybacks, “Torrent of Corporate Trading Dominating the Market” and “Short-Term Financial Engineering”

Mirabile dictu, a Republican SEC commissioner criticizes stock buybacks….

CalPERS CIO Ted Eliopoulos Tells 5 Big Lies in Presenting Super Indirect Private Equity Scheme

CalPERS’ Chief Investment Officer Ted Eliopoulos seemed unable to offer a truthful, coherent rationale for two new private equity schemes he unveiled last Friday. CalPERS beneficiaries and California taxpayers should be worried.

CalPERS Issues False and Misleading Press Release to Try to Railroad Board on Private Equity Industry Enrichment Scheme

A brazen example of CalPERS staff trying to muscle board members and have them violate their fiduciary duty regarding a massive, misguided, and sketchy private equity outsourcing scheme.

CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ted Eliopoulos to Leave at Year End; Investment Office Adrift Due to Senior Level Vacancies

Why the departure of Ted Eliopoulos from CalPERS could wind up being the end of an era.

SEC Gives Private Equity Firm Welsh Carson a Wet Noodle Lashing Over Purchasing Kickback Abuse

More SEC enforcement theater on the private equity front.

New Report: Most State Pension Funds, Including CalPERS, Lag 60/40 Investment Mix at Higher Cost, Resulting in Even Higher Shortfalls

Yet another stunning indictment of public pension fund management. If the biggest funds with the best staffs can’t beat a simple Vanguard portfolio, why aren’t more heads rolling?

Why Board Member and Vocal Critic of CalPERS Margaret Brown Needs to Stay The Course

A successful public pension fund reformer explains how determined foes of transparency and accountability play dirty.