Category Archives: Investment management

New Paper Debunks Desperate Rationalization for Private Equity: Lower Volatility Based on Bogus Valuations

A new paper by Jeff Hooke and Ken Yook of John Hopkins argues that “smoothed,” as in phony, private equity valuations are misleading.

Gaius Publius: In Surprise Move, Norway’s $1 Trillion Sovereign Wealth Fund May Divest From Fossil Fuels

Would a Norway sovereign wealth fund divestiture from fossil fuels be a tipping point among investors?

New Study Undermines Rationale for Investing in Private Equity and CalPERS Strategy in Particular, as Oregon CIO Demonstrates that Public Pension Funds Are Dumb Money

A top private equity scholar finds her earlier work on persistence no longer holds, consigning a key industry defense to the dustbin.

Artificial Intelligence and the Stability of Markets

AI may revolutionise risk management and financial supervision, but also threatens to destabilise markets and increase systemic risk.

CalPERS’ Three Card Monte: Makes Unheard of Benchmark Change to Hide Expected Poor Private Equity Performance to Help Staff at Expense of Beneficiaries, California Taxpayers

Yet again, CalPERS is trying to use optics and dodgy reporting to cover up for real problems.

Silicon Valley Rejects Shareholder Value Theory: Disrupting the IPO

Silicon Valley has an alternative to the IPO…with a 20% haircut compared to Wall Street’s 7%. Should you hang on to your wallet?

More Signs of Private Equity Market Frenzy: Firms Selling Stakes

Yet more evidence that the private equity market is overheated.

CalPERS Goes for Secrecy Over Returns; Exploring Paying Additional Layer of Private Equity Fees by Outsourcing to BlackRock

CalPERS is exploring having BlackRock hide its private equity problems under a costly rug.

Mutual Funds Cut Uber Valuation by as Much as 15%

It’s getting harder to put lipstick on the Uber pig.

Fiduciary Rule: Helps Not Hurts Wall Street, So Full Rescission Unlikely

WSJ says fiduciary rule helps Wall Street, so rescission unlikely. But still may be better for retail investors than previous status quo.

CalPERS CIO Ted Eliopoulos Handing Off Most of His Job Duties. So Why Isn’t He Taking a $500,000 Pay Cut?

In a remarkably cheeky move, CalPERS CIO Ted Eliopoulos is fobbing off his main job duties on a subordinate. Will the sleepy board react?

Uber: “Battle to the Death” in Benchmark/Kalanick Power Struggle

The fight over Uber would normally be mistaken for a Punch and Judy show if there weren’t so much money at stake.

Public Pension Funds Regain Some Lost Ground in a Good Year, But CalPERS Lags Peers

CalPERS again falls short for its beneficiaries and California taxpayers.

Fake Unicorns: Study Finds Average 49% Valuation Overstatement; Over Half Lose “Unicorn” Status When Corrected

Investors beware! A large scale study found that every unicorn it looked at was overvalued, on average to a significant degree.