Welcome to the weekend, everybody. Here’s some of the top stories for your hammock:
- Hypothesis: Articles that say: “That’s bad news for money managers and consultants ... ” seem to offer rather good news for everybody else. For example, Ontario has decided to take the investment management of its public pensions and endowments very seriously by establishing a new professional investment management entity, which (according to the article) is “bad for money managers and consultants.” So, to clarify, what’s unarguably good for a government and its citizens, is bad for finance intermediaries? Yes, people, this is a reminder of how much profit Wall Street earns on the back of an unsophisticated base of clients ...
- Greasing Slopes: A lot of people are celebrating the news today that Norway’s parliament has formally endorsed a plan to sell off coal investments from its $900 billion sovereign fund. What’s that noise, you ask? Oh, that? That’s not the celebration ... that’s the sound of Norwegians chanting for NBIM to divest from oil sands and fracking industries. And after that?
- Power to the Pensions: Denmark’s big pension fund ATP is considering selling its stake in Ryan Air due to labor practices that prevent workers from organizing.
- End of An Era: My long time friend Hareb Al Darmaki is shifting his responsibilities within the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The man who literally built the Giant’s private equity practice from the ground up (and, frankly, helped build the SWF from the ground up too) is moving over to the Managing Director’s office. Hareb is one of the kindest and most sneakily innovative people I’ve ever met in this crazy industry. And the next story will give a small taste of what I’m talking about ...
- In-Sourcing: The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority — which must have over $1 trillion in AUM by now — is running 35% of all its assets in house. ADIA has truly become a professional sovereign wealth fund that others can aspire to emulate.
- The Fee Machine: Dear alternatives managers: New Jersey is about to get all up in your business on fees. And, yes, that makes me happy.
- Impact Ventures: The Harvard Business Review asks whether impact investing is the new venture capital? I ask: When they’re both done really well, aren’t they the same thing?
- Retirement: Mike Burns is retiring as the CEO of Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation due to poor health. Mike was a gentle Giant in the industry, having built a world class sovereign fund in Juneau, Alaska. You think that was easy? Would you move to Alaska for $200k a year? Massive respect.
- Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing: The China Investment Corp’s resource and energy investments in Canada have, well, cratered. After investing around $1.9 billion in oil sands companies, the value of those investments today is in the range of $400 million.
- Selfie: Gordon Clark and I have a new paper on consultants, which consultants will surely think is awesome ... maybe.
Have a neat-o weekend! And thanks for reading this far down the post. That can’t have been easy. I appreciate it. (Mom is that you?) OK bye.
