Investors are willing to back sub-£2m entrepreneurs
Two of the US’s largest pension funds look likely in the coming months to increase their private equity investments. These are the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest pension fund in the US, and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), which ranks second. CalSTRS’s board is due to meet on September 7 […]
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System last week upped its commitment to the Central Valley Fund to $40 million. Previously, in 2004, it agreed to a $10 million commitment. The Valley Fund, which had closed on $80 million in December, targets companies that are at least five years old, booking $5 million to $50 million […]
Settlement talks have broken down between three partners of San Francisco-based venture firm VSP Capital and one of those partners has thrown gasoline on the litigation bonfire. Former VSP Managing Director Matthew Crisp filed a counter complaint June 9 in the Superior Court of San Francisco against VSP General Partners John Hamm and Joanna Rees-Gallanter, […]
Susquehanna International Group (SIG) is planning to enter the U.S. venture capital market. The firm said that it expects to invest about $50 million per year in U.S. venture capital and growth equity deals in technology, financial services, business services and health care services. SIG spokesman Todd Simkin said that the $50 million figure is […]
For years, “globalization” has been the byword of journalists, pundits and Fortune 500 CEOs. While long ago, Columbus told us the world was round, Tom Friedman now boldly proclaims it’s flat. And perhaps that’s helping global investors slide dollars, Euros, yuans and shekels across borders and into attractive businesses across the map. Not to be […]
When Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures bet $10 million on a site that invites children to dress up virtual celebrities and a dozen more top firms begin to spend wildly on avatars, you have to wonder if the venture industry hasn’t gone completely bananas. Since January, VCs have sunk more than $150 million into teen-oriented […]
The Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System is upping its exposure to high-risk, high-return portfolio allocations, hiring new funds of hedge funds. The strategy supplants a more traditional, actively managed equity portfolio. PA SERS has hired Arden Asset Management and The Rock Creek Group to manage its international fund of hedge funds. Each firm will oversee […]
The Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) held its board meeting at the end of May and approved six more private equity fund allocations totaling $338 million. Half of the fund pledges were follow-on commitments, with the bulk going toward buyout funds. Among the highlights from the meeting, the SERS board approved up to $128 […]
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) named Russell Read as CIO of the $208 billion pension fund. Read succeeds Mark Anson, who departed more than six months ago to join London-based institutional fund manager Hermes Pensions Management. Read was scheduled to assume the post on June 1. At CalPERS, Read will manage the pension […]