CalPERS, UC Fund Data Are Sought

LA Times ^ | 5/25/05 | Marc Lifsher

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO — A coalition of media companies and government watchdog groups, reacting to rumors of losses at some big hedge funds, are clamoring to get two of California's biggest public pension funds to disclose more details of their holdings in exotic investments.

The California First Amendment Coalition on Tuesday filed requests under the state public records law with the $182-billion California Public Employees' Retirement System and the $63-billion University of California pension and endowment fund, seeking information about debt levels at the hedge funds they invest in. They also ask for data on management fees and types of hedge funds in the portfolios.

"The public has a right to know about the risks that public pensions — and indirectly, all California taxpayers — are assuming in their hedge fund investments," said Peter Scheer, executive director of the coalition, which includes a number of media companies, including the Los Angeles Times.

Hedge funds are largely unregulated investment vehicles, favored by sophisticated institutional investors, which use risky strategies such as short selling and leveraging in pursuit of big returns. In recent weeks, Wall Street has been swept by as-yet unfounded speculation that one or more big hedge funds may have suffered heavy losses.

[Alia]

Good! About darned time. I wanna see names, and amounts. And Gov Arnold might just "think" about "filibustering" ANY AND ALL LEGISLATIONS AND BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS BROUGHT FORWARD BY DEMOCRATS ==until== the data is DELIVERED to the PUBLIC. (caps off...)

[BurbankErnie]

Can't wait to see the report on UC Santa Cruz... That Institution is corrupt from top to bottom.
And I agree... Its about time!