Other Voices: ESG exuberance is at all-time highs. But will investors buy?... [more]As investors increase their focus on mission-based investing, they continue to grapple with ESG and what it means to them. By David Shalom, Director of Capital Introductions at Pershing Innovation. New investment solutions. That's how managers deliver value and attract new inve

Alts managers sitting on over $2.5tn+ of dry powder... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: In the current rising interest rate environment, investment activity in the private markets has continued to grow, revealed a study. "With alts managers sitting on over $2.5T+ of dry powder and continuing to enjoy premium valuations and interest rates on a prec

LGT Capital Partners soars past Crown Asia-Pacific Private Equity V target to strike $1.65bn hard cap... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Swiss alternative investment specialist LGT Capital Partners has held the final close of its fifth Asia Pacific fund-of-funds at a hard cap of $1.65 billion, which exceeded the $1 billion target. The largest family-owned private banking and asset management group i

ECP closes $1.6 billion continuation fund... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Private equity firm ECP has closed a $1.6 billion continuation fund. The continuation fund provides ECP III and IV investors, as well as the consortium of investment partners, the opportunity to monetize a minority stake in their investment in Calpine Corporatio

Bridgewater doubles its short bet on European shares... [more]The Times: The world's largest hedge fund has almost doubled the size of its short bet against European companies in the past week. Bridgewater Associates, the US$150bn hedge fund colossus founded by Ray Dalio, now has at least US$10.5bn of short positions on a total of 28 companies, according t

Hedge fund trader Shah struck Cum-Ex trades with DekaBank... [more]From Bloomberg: Hedge-fund trader Sanjay Shah, currently held in Dubai awaiting his extradition to Denmark over a $2 billion Cum-Ex case, apparently struck similar tax deals with Germany's DekaBank. Shah and the former head of DekaBank's equity finance desk are said to have collaborated on a var

New Launches: Paris-based Breega closes $264m fund, iM Global Partner and Scharf Investments launch concentrated global equity fund, VanEck and Investo launch crypto ETF in Brazil... [more] Paris-based Breega closes $264m fund From Tech Crunch: Paris-originated VC Breega wasn't enormously well known in the VC world (it only closed its first fund in 2015) until, perhaps, it started attracting attention with its second €110 million seed fund, just under a year go. I

Institutional Investors: Kentucky Teachers assigns $325m to alternatives, Pennsylvania Municipal commits $170m to opportunistic credit fund... [more] Kentucky Teachers assigns $325m to alternatives From PIonline.com: Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System, Frankfort, disclosed commitments totaling up to $325 million, said Robert B. "Beau" Barnes, deputy executive secretary and general counsel, in an email. The $24.6 billion pension

Investing: Third Point sells more SentinelOne shares, Top hedge fund AQR is betting against AMC stock. Here's why... [more] Third Point sells more SentinelOne shares From Institutional Investor: Dan Loeb's hedge fund has been aggressively unloading the stocks of three previous top performers. Third Point continues to unload shares of its once largest long and top performer. On Tuesday, the hedge fund firm

SPACs: Tikehau Capital sponsored SPAC, Pegasus Entrepreneurs, to merge with FL Entertainment, Why are SPACs losing sheen and reverting to shady image of "backdoor IPOs" they had years ago, Chinese online food distributor said to mull $1bn U.S. SPAC deal, Pagaya completes SPAC merger at $8.5bn valuation, Adara plans $480m SPAC merger with Alliance Entertainment... [more] Tikehau Capital sponsored SPAC, Pegasus Entrepreneurs, to merge with FL Entertainment Tikehau Capital announced that the business combination of Pegasus Entrepreneurial Acquisition Company Europe, its sponsored SPAC focused on high-growth entrepreneurial businesses, with FL Topco B.V. ha

People: AP4 adviser to join Folksam, Janus Henderson's new chief, Aaro Capital appoints Stuart MacDonald as Chairman... [more] AP4 adviser to join Folksam, Janus Henderson's new chief From IPE: AP4 - Marcus Svedberg is leaving the Swedish buffer fund to join Swedish insurer Folksam as chief economist this week. He joined AP4 in 2018, having previously been a sustainable finance adviser and adviser to the executi

Crypto: Crypto hackers steal $100m with Horizon bridge attack, Crypto's liquidity troubles are spreading to other platforms, Distressed crypto broker Voyager sets limits on withdrawals, Crypto exchange CoinFLEX freezes withdrawals due to counterparty 'uncertainty', On the brink of recession: Can Bitcoin survive its first global economic crisis?, Billionaire Seth Klarman sees no point of crypto, says no one needs to own it, Crypto exchange Uniswap overtakes Ethereum in user fees... [more] Crypto hackers steal $100m with Horizon bridge attack From Bloomberg: Hackers looted about $100 million from a so-called cryptocurrency bridge, targeting a key vulnerability in the digital-asset ecosystem. Harmony said in a tweet the hack of its Horizon bridge, which lets people swa

U.S.: Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin moving Citadel HQ out of Chicago, into Miami, $1.5tn asset manager Northern Trust creates digital assets group, Kodak uses LDI, alts to drive strong returns, funding ratio... [more] Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin moving Citadel HQ out of Chicago, into Miami From NBC: Another large company has announced it is moving its headquarters out of Chicago. Thursday, in a letter to employees, Hedge fund manager and billionaire Ken Griffin announced that, after more than 30 y

Europe: Average global funds hold a third less in the UK than before Brexit, Brexit cost London a big chunk of IPO market share in Europe... [more] Average global funds hold a third less in the UK than before Brexit From Investment Week: The average UK weighting in IA Global funds has dropped by a third since the Brexit vote six years ago, data from Quilter Cheviot has found. On the sixth anniversary of the Brexit Referendum vot

Asia: J.P. Morgan thinks the darkest days for China have passed. Allocators remain cautious, China to launch new derivatives to help small cap investors hedge risks... [more] J.P. Morgan thinks the darkest days for China have passed. Allocators remain cautious From Institutional Investor: The Chinese markets tumbled in April as the Covid lockdown in Shanghai disrupted investors' confidence and global supply chains. But J.P. Morgan Asset Management believes th

PE/VC: Private equity bonanza moves 'down market' amid bear market jitters, Why private equity can lead on sustainability, The behind-the-scenes mess now facing the VC industry, Biotech VC funding softens amid macroeconomic headwinds... [more] Private equity bonanza moves 'down market' amid bear market jitters From Forbes: As sinking stocks and recession fears spur interest in alternatives, fund managers and retail marketplaces are chomping at the bit for 'mass affluent' investors. After years of private equity firms aggre

Study: 42% of AUM across private capital is managed by funds that have an active ESG policy... [more]Opalesque Industry Update - Preqin has published its annual Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report: ESG in Alternatives 2022: The Transparency Tipping Point. The report provides the latest insights on developments in what is becoming a necessary competency for private market managers

ESG: KLP adds new sustainability roles for more credibility in talks, WSIB gears up for social and environmental push in private equity, ESG policies becoming critical in private capital markets, Chinese asset owners adopting a more systematic roadmap towards net zero... [more] KLP adds new sustainability roles for more credibility in talks From IPE: Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP), Norway's main municipal pensions provider, has appointed five new people to work on sustainability in its various divisions, and said having good in-house skill bolsters its credi

News Briefs: 42% of all billionaires under 30 are in the US... [more]From Money Transfers: The world's youngest billionaires are shaping the future of investing and entrepreneurship. These stars are getting younger and younger, being under 30 years. The young moguls have already built up a fortune worth billions, making them some of the world's richest people. Th

And, finally: More gas prices on the rise, this time for good... [more]From Reuters: New Zealand's Ministry for Environment recently proposed a plan to help curb the country's greenhouse gas emissions, Reuters reported on June 8. The gist: charging farmers for cow burps. The country is home to 5 million people, but twice that many cattle -- and 26 million sheep, to boo