Welcome to the weekend, everybody. Here’s your weekly news from the Avenue of Giants!
- Crazytown: Pension funds are reportedly writing option contracts to help fund their liabilities, which is a great idea for any and all pension funds . . . in Bizarroworld.
- QOTD: According to Abu Dhabi’s Invest AD: “It’s easier to look for Pokemon than to look for yields.” Looking, yes. What about finding? Inquiring minds want to know!
- The Other Place: The Oman Investment Fund is reportedly backing a new fund targeting Cambridge University startups.
- State Exploitation Fund: Alabama is planning a new state lottery, which is basically an exploitative tax on poor people, in order to partially repay loans to the state’s own wealth fund.
- Walk of Shame I: Apollo was fined $53 million over fees charged to LPs, which is the single biggest SEC fine for hidden PE fees to date. Who’s next?
- Walk of Shame II: Wilbur Ross will have to pay back fees and pay fines for not being transparent in the way it charges fees. Who’s next?
- Walk of Shame III: The SEC has informed Silver Lake that it is now doing a deeper investigation into its fees and costs. Who’s next?
- Walk of Shame IV: The SEC has already brought 10 enforcement cases with over $150 million in fines agains GPs such as KKR and Blackstone, and it’s only going to get worse.
- Stockholm Syndrome: Despite all the shenanigans that have taken place among private equity GPs, guess who is one of their most vocal defenders? You guessed it . . . the LPs.
- Selfie: I just finished a new version of the organic finance paper that explains my militant focus on investment fees and costs. Enjoy!
Have a great weekend, everybody. See you next week.
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