Weekend Giant Reading: August 26 – 28, 2016

Welcome to the weekend, everybody. Here’s your weekly news from the Avenue of Giants!

- Crazytown:Pension funds are reportedlywriting option contracts to help fund their liabilities, which is a great idea for any and all pension funds . . . in Bizarroworld.

- QOTD:According toAbu 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 anew fund targeting Cambridge University startups.

- State Exploitation Fund:Alabama isplanning 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 millionover fees charged to LPs, which is the single biggest SEC fine for hidden PE fees to date. Who’s next?

- Walk of Shame II:威尔伯•罗斯will have to pay back fees and pay finesfor not being transparent in the way it charges fees. Who’s next?

- Walk of Shame III:TheSEC has informed Silver Lakethat it is now doing a deeper investigation into its fees and costs. Who’s next?

- Walk of Shame IV:The SEC has already brought10 enforcement cases with over $150 million in finesagains 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 explainsmy militant focus on investment fees and costs. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend, everybody. See you next week.

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