Is the much-discussed private equity portfolio of California Public Employees’ Retirement System performing even better than widely thought? An examination of the performance and cost figures that CalPERS released late last month on its private equity program suggests that it is. Revelations include: Realized deals are outperforming the rest of the portfolio, suggesting untapped value in the unrealized portfolio. […]
Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, have recently broken ground in Canadian IPO markets, raising close to $1 billion. Torys' Partners John Emanoilidis, Rima Ramchandani and Mile Kurta discuss the opportunities presented by Canadian SPACs, and the challenge they face in sourcing and closing a quality acquisition in a tight timeline.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System released its long-awaited study of how much it paid private equity managers in carried interest over the years. The results were less than alarming: The numbers show CalPERS paid $3.4 billion to all active managers since 1990 and collected $24.2 billion in realized net profits during that time. (CalPERS […]
Michael Tyler, then senior investment analyst-private markets at Public School Employees’ Retirement System of Pennsylvania, wrote in a March 2013 investment recommendation that New Mountain Capital “has not lost a person at or above the VP level since the start of Fund II,” a vintage 2005 pool. It was a noteworthy achievement for the New York buyout shop given the importance […]
I met with an LP the other night for drinks at one of the fancy bars financial types frequent. We chatted about the state of the market, and as is usually the case, the LP wanted to compare notes about certain GPs. “What have you heard?” I usually get that question when an LP is […]
The lesson drawn from several early SEC enforcement actions taken against sponsors is that they shouldn’t keep investors in the dark on how they handle the allocation of fees and expenses. It is especially problematic when their allocation happens to benefit them at the expense of investors. According to a new study, investors refuse to wait for private equity firms to […]
Blackstone Group spokesman Peter Rose called out limited partners recently while explaining the firm’s lack of disclosure around accelerated monitoring fees. He’s exactly right in pointing out that LPs sat idly by when told the firm accelerated fees even though it never mentioned the practice in the limited partnership agreement. Blackstone earlier this month settled […]
Let’s act like adults, please. A recent dust-up at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System between a board member and private equity investment staff has officially moved into the realm of the absurd. Now, I’m never one to object when things turn absurd — it keeps life interesting. But in this case, I’m objecting because the […]
I have a modest proposal for the folks over at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, who have been taking quite a drubbing lately.
Recently, we got the sad news that Michael Beblo, director of alternative investments at the Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System, died after heart surgery. He was just 62.