Category Archives: Investment management

World Bank’s ‘Mobilizing Finance for Development’ Not Financing Development

The World Bank is trying to rebrand a failed public private partnership scheme as “blended finance”. Developing countries, beware.

The Wealth of Corporations: Why Firms Have Zero Net Worth, and Why It Matters

A theory of net worth and what that means for measurements of wealth.

Looting, American Style: CEOs Get Big Pre-Bankruptcy Bonuses Even When Lenders and Employees Stiffed

Failed CEOs succeed in looting their companies on the verge of bankruptcy filings.

Has CalPERS Come Clean With Its Board Over Pending $500 Million Carlyle Deal, Tainted by Ownership of Carlyle Shares by Departed CIO Ben Meng?

CalPERS needs to come clean about its Ben Meng mess. A pending Carlyle transaction shows it’s still in cover-up mode.

Brawl Over Mayberry v. KKR: Big Hearing Monday Over One Contested Issue, Whether Attorney General Can Intervene in Kentucky Retirement Systems Case

The next phase of Mayberry is set to be particularly scrappy as lawyers joust for position.

CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost Moonlights? Implausibly Denies Relationship With Top Speakers’ Bureau

CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost does not appear to have a good grasp of the conflict-of-interest rules that apply to her role.

CalPERS Preliminary Returns Inconsistent with Other CalPERS Data; CalPERS Refuses to ‘Splain Even Though It Ought to be Easy

CalPERS has yet to clear up an anomaly in its reported preliminary returns.

CalPERS Digs Its Ben Meng Defenestration Hole Deeper: Claims Knowledge of Abuse Months Ago; Notice for Emergency Closed Session Legally Invalid Unless CEO Frost’s Job Is on the Line

CalPERS is bizarrely unable to control its bad impulses.

Crapification, Vanguard Style: Customer Service Rep Bullies Your Humble Blogger into Taking Security Risk

Vanguard behaves very badly.

CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng Resigns Following Our Exposing His False, Felonious Financial Disclosure Filings and Private Equity Conflicts of Interest

CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng has left abruptly. If you’ve been paying attention, this isn’t a total surprise.

CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng Made False, Felonious Financial Disclosure Report; More Proof of Lack of Compliance Under Marcie Frost

CIO Ben Meng demonstrates why CalPERS can’t be trusted….even as the giant pension is pushing legislation to be able to make loans in secret.

Mayberry v. KKR Plaintiffs File Amended Complaint, Refuting Standing Issues in Recent Kentucky Supreme Court Decision

Another front opens in the landmark public pension case, Mayberry v. KKR

Pathbreaking Public Pension Case Mayberry v. KKR Is Back From the Dead as Kentucky Attorney General Joins Case

The unexpected resurrection of the pathbreaking pension lawsuit Mayberry v. KKR is a welcome but politically extremely puzzling development.

Misunderstanding Public Pension Fund Implications of Thole v. US Bank and Mayberry v. KKR

How some commentators are misreading two recent court cases on pensions: Thole v. US Bank and Mayberry v. KKR.

New Study Slams Public Pension Funds’ Alternative Investments as Drag on Performance, Identifies CalPERS as One of the Worst “Negative Alphas”; Shows Folly of CalPERS’ Desperate Plan to Increase Private Equity and Debt and Go Bigger Using Leverage

A new paper shows that public pension fund investment in “alts” like real estate and private equity hurt returns and failed to lower risk.