Category Archives: Private equity

Why is CalPERS Understating Its Cost of Investing in Private Equity by Roughly $1.6 Billion, Meaning 80%?

CalPERS keeps putting its hand in the buzzsaw by presenting misleading or outright false information about private equity fees and costs.

Bond Investors Get Skittish as Record Wave of Acquisitions Push to Close Financings

Standard & Poors warns of the worst drop in the “net outlook bias” for bond investors since the financial crisis.

Private Equity Firms Muscling Lenders by Choosing and Paying for Their Lawyers

I really wanted to lay off private equity for a bit, but the news flow keeps getting in the way.

Private Equity Made Bad Bet on Ships, Hit by Collapse in China Trade

Private equity’s misadventure in ships is yet another proof of both hubris and too much money looking for deals.

The Twelve Days of CalPERS

Will “The Twelve Days of CalPERS ” become a new holiday classic?

CalPERS: Stockholm Syndrome and Cowardice on Private Equity Fee Disclosure

I have wanted to leave CalPERS alone. Really. Truly. But they keep asking for attention in the worst possible way.

Wolf Richter: IPO Window Suddenly Closes, “Worst Year Since 2009,” Worst December Since 2008

The IPO market shutting down does not bode well for private equity returns, and may be sending a warning about real economy prospects.

Pensions & Investment Editorial Savages Trustees for Failing to Perform Fiduciary Duty Over Private Equity Fees

Pensions & investments, in an astonishingly outspoken editorial, excoriated fund trustees for failing to perform their fiduciary duty and called for sanctions.

We Won a Fight Against CalPERS Over Its Plan to Ignore Private Equity Risk

A Los Angeles Times headline recapping a board meeting Monday says it all: “CalPERS shelves controversial private equity policy.”

Partial Tally of Hidden Private Equity Fees: 6% of Equity Invested

A new study on private equity’s hidden charges is sure to fuel demands for more transparency.

Our Bloomberg Op-Ed on CalPERS’ Plan to Get Rid of Private Equity Risk by Ignoring It

CalPERS’ plan to eliminate the measurement of private equity risk, a seismic change, is a case study in how staff manipulates the board to its own advantage.

Matthew Cunningham-Cook: How the Christie Stole New Jersey Local Government Workers’ COLA

A vignette of how pensioners are being shafted by being denied their COLA, or cost of living increase. In New Jersey, this looks to be a transfer to Wall Street.

San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Attacks CalPERS Over Half-Baked Plan to Lower Return Targets

CalPERS comes under fire on a new front: its fight with Governor Jerry Brown over how quickly to lower return targets to realistic levels.

How CalPERS Fails to Use Its Leverage in Private Equity

CalPERS ‘ belief that it cannot change the rules of the game in private equity is a symptom of learned helplessness, not power relationships.

How CalPERS Violated California Open Meeting Laws to Stifle Private Equity Skeptics and Keep the Board in the Dark

If CalPERS breaks the law routinely and casually to silence private equity skeptics, what is it capable of doing when the stakes are higher?