Time For Public Pensions To Track Fund-Flow
When a public pension system commits capital to a private equity fund, it typically discloses several pieces of information. Things like commitment size, the fund's basic investment strategy and the fund's senior management. What's missing, however, is any detailed information on how the fund was sourced or diligenced. That's got to change, and quick. I'm not proposing a full proctology exam here, just a basic timeline. For example, who was the first person to approach the pension system about the investment opportunity? And who did that person approach? And so on... If that initial contact is between a "finder" and a member of a pension's board, disclose it. If the initial contact comes at a conference between a GP and a member of the pension's investment staff, disclose it. If the initial contact is between a GP and a pension system's designated consultant, disclose it. And then tell us how the process progressed from there.
