I’m spending a few days in New York attending PEI’s Private Fund Compliance Forum. Last year, the SEC’s Drew Bowden dropped his illegal expenses bombshell. I wonder what his acting replacement, Marc Wyatt, will do as follow up later today. I plan to live-blog my notes during the conference. We’ll see how the power and … Read more »
SEC’s Home Court or Federal District Court?
Dodd-Frank gave the Securities and Exchange Commission broader powers to bring its enforcement actions in its own administrative court, instead of federal district court. Dodd-Frank changed that with its Section 929P. The SEC may now impose a civil penalty in an administrative proceeding against any person or company. The SEC recently released its “Division of … Read more »
Is a “Man Camp” a Security?
There was a land rush in North Dakota because of the stuff in the ground. Fracking for shale oil turned towns around the Bakken oil field into boom towns. It takes people to run those rigs, so the local population swelled in size, resulting in a shortage of housing. Some of the housing was minimally … Read more »
Weekend Reading: In The Kingdom of Ice
It’s amazing to me that we have gone from having unexplored areas on Earth to sending a spaceship to Pluto in less than 150 years. Hampton Sides’ In The Kingdom of Ice tells the story of terrible journey to find the North Pole. (If you’re interested in Pluto, New Horizons is approaching the dwarf planet … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for May 8
These are some of the compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention: Cyber Insurance: A Pragmatic Approach to a Growing Necessity by John Reed Stark and David R. Fontaine in Cybersecurity Docket To manage this burgeoning yet still nascent threat, just like other routine day-to-day risk and hazards, companies have started to include cybersecurity concerns … Read more »
Private Equity Real Estate Top 50 – 2015 Edition of Who is Registered
Private Equity Real Estate has released its ranking of the top 50 real estate private equity fund managers. As I have done in the past, I parsed the list to see which managers are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as investment advisers. (Disclosure: my company is on the list.) — Name of institution … Read more »
Want to Buy a Boston Skyscraper?
The old fraud was someone selling you the Empire State Building. A new company wants you to buy State Street Financial Center in downtown Boston. But it’s not a fraud; just a focused real estate investment. Commercial real estate involves big chunks of capital. Some of those investments will meet underwriting, some will be home … Read more »
Can A Fund Pay for the Manager’s Office Expenses?
This is not a question that you can answer without any background. Theoretically, a fund can directly pay a fund’s office expenses. It’s just that most investors do not expect to pay for a manager’s office expenses. Investors expect the management fee they pay to cover those expenses, with the rest as profit for the … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for May 1
These are some of the compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. Wall Street Pushes Back on Foreign Bribery Probe by Jean Eaglesham, Emily Glazer Ned Levin in the Wall Street Journal The previously unreported campaign by banks goes to the heart of a wide-ranging inquiry into whether they ran afoul of U.S. antibribery laws … Read more »
SEC Issues Cybersecurity Guidance
Last year, the SEC raised a cloud of concern when it started its cybersecurity initiative aimed at broker/dealers, investment advisers and fund managers. Based on an interview last month it seems that initiative would continue into a phase 2. The SEC recently released its Cybersecurity Guidance that enunciates some steps investment advisers and fund managers … Read more »