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Calpers Unloads Record $6 Billion of Private-Equity Stakes at Discount

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(Bloomberg) — The California Public Employees’ Retirement System sold about $6 billion of its stakes in private equity funds to second-hand buyers, severing ties with a slew of past managers and freeing up cash for new wagers.

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The $440 billion public pension fund, the largest in the US, has cycled through four investment chiefs since 2009 and has long wrestled with the complexity of its $50 billion in private equity holdings. Calpers hired Jefferies Financial Group Inc. to explore ways to clean up its portfolio and shop a swath of assets, according to people familiar with the matter.

Lexington Partners, an investment business of Franklin Resources Inc., and CVC Capital Partners’ Glendower Capital snapped up pieces in separate sales that wrapped up over the past two weeks, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private transactions. The deal is not only the largest of its kind by Calpers, but private equity executives said it’s probably the biggest-ever involving second-hand fund stakes changing hands.

Trading in such size came at a price: Calpers sold its holdings at a roughly 10% discount to their value in September 2021, some of the people said. The fund softened the blow thanks in part to how it structured the deal, they said.

The blockbuster transaction generates money for investment chief Nicole Musicco, who took over earlier this year, to make new wagers as markets remain volatile. She has told Calpers directors that she wants to build a team that would buy stakes in private companies. That would let Calpers gain more control and bypass private equity firms like Blackstone Inc. or Carlyle Group Inc.

“The sale positions us to act on our new asset allocation and allows us to capitalize on market opportunities,” Musicco said in a statement to Bloomberg. Calpers drew up plans last year to increase private equity and grow private debt.

Representatives for Lexington, Glendower and Jefferies declined to comment.

Secondary Slowdown

Pensions and endowments are among large institutions taking advantage of the rise of so-called secondary buyers — other deep-pocketed investors willing to take on older, unwanted private equity stakes that are typically hard to sell and value. These kinds of trades totaled $63 billion in 2021, a record high, according to Campbell Lutyens & Co.

Wall Street is bracing for a slowdown in trading private equity stakes. With markets in flux, some sellers are hesitant about striking deals at steep discounts.

The haircuts for various assets sold by Calpers range from high single-digit percentages to about 20%, some of the people said.

In a move to make any discount less punitive, Calpers opted to defer some payments beyond June 30, the last day of its fiscal year, people said. That allows Calpers to continue collecting some of the cash generated by the investments. And by not taking all of the sale proceeds upfront, Calpers can avoid a large balance of undeployed cash, which would drag down performance for the latest fiscal year.

Calpers, like many public pensions, doesn’t have all the assets needed to meet future promises to retired police, firefighters and other state workers. If the funds can’t meet their return benchmarks, it puts the onus on taxpayers to help fill the shortfall.

Portfolio Rework

Lexington and Glendower took over a mixed bag of older funds that include buyout and growth strategies. The deal helps Calpers break ties with some managers it invested with previously.

Calpers, one of the earliest public pension funds to get into private equity, has seen its returns in the asset class trail peers over time as rivals crowded into buyout funds in search of higher returns.

Various Calpers leaders have tried to remake the pension’s sprawling private equity portfolio, but some ran out of time or faced challenges getting support from others at the fund.

Ted Eliopoulos tried to slash the number of managers during his tenure as CIO from 2014 to 2018. Under Musicco’s predecessor, Ben Meng, Calpers expanded coinvestments, which are typically deals done alongside funds to help curb fees.

The pension fund has continued to ramp up coinvesting, one of the people said.

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BofA Securities maintains Amazon.com at ‘buy’ with a price target of $154.00

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Six people in critical condition, one still missing after Paris blast – prosecutor

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© Reuters. French firefighters and rescue forces work after several buildings on fire following a gas explosion in the fifth arrondissement of Paris, France, June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

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PARIS (Reuters) – Six people remained in a critical condition and one person was believed still missing on Thursday, one day after a blast ripped through a street near Paris’ historic Latin Quarter, the city’s public prosecution office said. “These figures may still change,” prosecutor Maylis De Roeck told Reuters in a text message, adding that around 50 people had been injured in the blast, which set buildings ablaze and caused the front of one to collapse onto the street. Of two people initially believed missing, one has been found in hospital and is being taken care of, the prosecutor said, adding: “Searches are ongoing to find the second person.” Authorities have not yet said what caused the explosion, which witnesses said had followed a strong smell of gas at the site. The explosion led to scenes of chaos and destruction in the historic Rue Saint Jacques, which runs from the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral to the Sorbonne University, just as people were heading home from work. It also destroyed the facade of a building housing the Paris American Academy design school popular with foreign students. Florence Berthout, mayor of the Paris district where the blast occurred, said 12 students who should have been in the academy’s classrooms at the time had fortunately gone to visit an exhibition with their teacher.
“Otherwise the (death toll) could have been absolutely horrific,” Berthout told BFM TV. She said three children who had been passing by at the time were among the injured, although their lives were not in danger.

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4 big analyst cuts: Alcoa & DigitalOcean shares drop on downgrades

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Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst cuts you may have missed since yesterday: downgrades at Alcoa, DigitalOcean, Teleflex, and Xcel Energy.InvestingPro subscribers got this news in rapid fire. Never be left in the dust again.Alcoa stock drops on Morgan Stanley downgrade Alcoa (NYSE:) shares fell more than 3% pre-market today after Morgan Stanley downgraded the company to Underweight from Equalweight and cut its price target to $33.00 from $43.00, as reported in real time on InvestingPro.The firm sees a significant decline in consensus estimates, and as negative earnings revisions materialize, it believes the stock will face downward pressure and underperform.The analyst’s estimates for EBITDA in Q2, 2023, and 2024 are substantially lower than the consensus. The stock is currently trading above its historical average. The firm said its downward revisions in earnings estimates and price target are attributed to the company’s high operating leverage to aluminum prices.DigitalOcean stock plunges on downgradePiper Sandler downgraded DigitalOcean (NYSE:) to Underweight from Neutral with a price target of $35.00. As a result, shares plunged more than 5% pre-market today.The company reported its last month, with revenue beating the consensus estimate, while EPS coming in worse than expected. Furthermore, the company provided a strong outlook, which was above the Street estimates.2 more downgradesTeleflex (NYSE:) shares fell more than 3% yesterday after Needham downgraded the company to Hold from Buy, noting that UroLift expectations may still be too high.According to Needham, their checks indicate that urologists are reducing their use of UroLift due to its retreatment rates, reimbursement cuts, and increasing use of competing procedures. This is also supported by their Google Trends data analysis, which indicates decreasing search interest in UroLift.BMO Capital downgraded Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:) to Market Perform from Outperform and cut its price target to $64.00 from $69.00 to reflect the lower-than-expected terms of the company’s regulatory settlement in Colorado.Amid whipsaw markets and a slew of critical headlines, seize on the right timing to protect your profits: Always be the first to know with InvestingPro.Start your free 7-day trial now.

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