Private

In Saturday's post about the meeting on Nov. 13 of the Regents' Investment Subcommittee, we noted that there was significant discussion of private equity vs. public. Today, Calpensions.com publishes a piece about the same topic in the context of CalPERS. CalPERS, unlike UC, has had scandals related to private equity (and prison sentences). Part of the problem has been potentially high administrative costs of private equity investments. The theme of the Calpensions.com article is that nowadays, CalPERS has more transparency about what it does in the private equity field than it did in the days of scandal.

One has the sense that the private equity topic arose at the Nov. 13 meeting because those in the pension world, whether at CalPERS or UCRP, are under ongoing pressure to earn 7+ percent returns - the rate assumed in the plans - but believe that 6+ percent is more likely. The world of California public pensions, while big in dollars, is not so large in terms of the number of decision makers who make investment choices. What gets discussed at CalPERS and about CalPERS gets discussed by UC's pension and investment managers.

The Calpensions.com article is at:
https://calpensions.com/2018/11/26/calpers-plans-new-way-to-invest-in-private-equity/