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Wounded by the CalPERS bribery scandal and other problems, a New Jersey pharmaceutical-benefits company is being sold. Medco Health Solutions Inc., one of the giants of the drug-benefit industry, on Thursday agreed to a $29.1 billion takeover by rival Express Scripts Inc. Such a deal would have been unthinkable a few months ago, when Medco was flying high. But the New Jersey company ran into a series of problems that began with its entanglement in the CalPERS bribery case. "This year has been a head-spinner for this (Medco) management team, starting out with the CalPERS issues," said investment analyst Arthur...

Federal regulators are investigating whether California violated securities laws and failed to provide adequate disclosure about its giant public pension fund, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation. The Securities and Exchange Commission normally polices companies, but last year it brought its first enforcement action ever against a state, accusing New Jersey of securities fraud for misleading bond investors about the condition of its pension fund. The commission signaled, in its settlement with New Jersey, that it was going to look more broadly at the pension disclosures of states and cities. The fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement...

Ok, Ron, now what? Investor Ron Burkle on Tuesday suffered a double loss in his fight against Barnes & Noble. Shareholders beat back his proposals to elect him and two other director nominees, and his suggestion to raise the threshold for the company’s poison pill that has been the source of tension between Burkle and the bookseller. Burkle is the second-largest holder of Barnes & Noble shares, and so far he isn’t going quietly. In a statement, his Yucaipa Cos. blamed the loss of the shareholder vote on an “insurmountable insider voting advantage” for Barnes & Noble founder Len Riggio...

Two Cal Poly Pomona professors emeriti have called on the Legislature and Attorney General Jerry Brown to probe flawed investment choices by CalPERS in recent years. Professors Walter Coombs of Claremont and Ralph Shaffer of Covina called for the investigations in an opinion piece published in The Riverside Press Enterprise. To read their full commentary, click here. Here are their ending remarks: It's time for a thorough examination of CalPERS by the state attorney general and the Legislature. Recent investments smack of cronyism and outright conflict of interest. Were investment transactions based on proper research or did certain favored real...

CalPERS has sustained steep declines in the value of its real estate holdings on top of even larger stock market losses. CalPERS made aggressive investments in real estate at the worst possible time, when inflated property values had peaked and were already beginning to decline. The magnitude of the losses almost ensures that CalPERS will raise employer contribution rates. Pension fund officials have warned state and local governments that they may be hit with fee increases of between 2 percent and 5 percent of payroll beginning as early as 2010. If the recession deepens and sales and property taxes continue...

Forbes.com has a lengthy piece that tries to devine whether another catastrophe will deliver a final blow to the economy before recovery starts. CalPERS is mentioned in the piece. John Osbon, one of the experts on Forbes' "Investor Team," says, "I can imagine CalPERS or TIAA-CREF making some announcement that they are cutting benefits and payouts by 30% due to investment losses, non-functioning markets and so on. That would be a real hit with real money." This strikes us as a bit ignorant, since CalPERS pension benefits are guaranteed. The fund can't simply "announce" a cut . . .

San Bernardino County officials vowed Thursday not to become a dumping ground for San Francisco criminals, saying they may sue that city for exporting juvenile offenders to local group homes. "The county is exploring every option to recoup all our police expenses," said county Supervisor Gary Ovitt. "This lunacy needs to stop now." Ovitt, joined by other officials at a news conference in San Bernardino, expressed anger over recent revelations that San Francisco sent illegal immigrant cocaine dealers from Honduras to group homes in Yucaipa. Eight juveniles walked away from the homes. One was recaptured in San Francisco this week,...

The California Public Employees Retirement System Chief Executive Officer may leave by the end of the year amid tensions with the board, marking the third top level executive at the $244 billion retirement fund to depart in 2008... Calpers is in the middle of an internal debate over whether to require infrastructure projects that receive Calpers investments to use union employees... In February, Christianna Wood, senior investment officer, stepped down ...

glaringly missing from the summary was mention of $15 million in fees paid by Burkle's Yucaipa Global Opportunities Fund since 2002

The earnings represent 20 percent of the approximately $75 million Bill Clinton earned during the same period, according to the documents. That may raise new questions about what services he performed for Los Angeles-based Yucaipa, whose investors include the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al- Maktoum.Tax lawyers said the Yucaipa partnership income for Bill Clinton looks to be a form of salary because it was in round numbers for most years. ``Most people who make that much money work for it,'' said Yale University tax law professor Michael Graetz, a former Treasury Department official in President George H.W....

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - A team from Brazil's Labor Ministry found "degrading" living conditions for 133 sugarcane workers employed by an ethanol company whose investors include former President Clinton and other high- profile financial players. At five sites inspected, workers "complained they were suffering from hunger and cold, and all of the locations were overcrowded and with terrible sanitary conditions," according to a statement issued Friday by Jaqueline Carrijo, who led the inspections last month. The target of the probe, Brazil Renewable Energy Co., known as Brenco, apologized over the weekend and said it is fixing the problems at...

Former President Clinton stands to reap around $20 million -- and will sever a politically sensitive partnership tie to Dubai -- by ending his high-profile business relationship with the investment firm of billionaire friend Ron Burkle. Mr. Clinton is negotiating to end his relationship with Mr. Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. as part of a broader effort to protect the presidential campaign of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, from potential conflicts of interest. Details of Mr. Clinton's involvement in Yucaipa and his efforts to unwind it come from documents and interviews with people familiar with the matter. The former president has had...

The Clintons' Multi-Million Dollar Dubai Conflict-of-Interest Bill's $20 million payoff from the UAE won't end the appearance of corruption. In the most recent Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama threw off their gloves and attacked each other for their suspicious and scandalous ties. And you know what? They were both right! Here’s a story this week that makes my point with respect to Hillary: According to the Wall Street Journal: “Former President Clinton stands to reap around $20 million -- and will sever a politically sensitive partnership tie to Dubai -- by ending his high-profile...

Former President Clinton stands to reap around $20 million -- and will sever a politically sensitive partnership tie to Dubai -- by ending his high-profile business relationship with the investment firm of billionaire friend Ron Burkle. Mr. Clinton is negotiating to end his relationship with Mr. Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. as part of a broader effort to protect the presidential campaign of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, from potential conflicts of interest. Details of Mr. Clinton's involvement in Yucaipa and his efforts to unwind it come from documents and interviews with people familiar with the matter. The former president has...

Former President Bill Clinton's decision to reconsider a business relationship with California billionaire Ron Burkle reflects concern those financial dealings may embarrass his wife's presidential candidacy. Securities and Exchange Commission documents and financial- disclosure forms filed by Hillary Clinton show that Bill Clinton, 61, has a financial stake in three investment entities registered in the Cayman Islands by Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. LLC. In 2004, Hillary Clinton, a New York senator, said she wanted to ``close the loopholes'' for ``people who create a mailbox, or a drop, or send one person to sit on the beach in some island paradise and...

Burkle-Led Group Gives Lift to Stock Of the Chinese Firm September 27, 2007; Page C2 Xinhua Finance Media Ltd., battling concerns about its governance practices and those of its Chinese parent, said U.S. investment firm Yucaipa Cos. would purchase an unspecified stake in the company from insiders. ..... Xinhua Finance's $45 million acquisition of Glass Lewis this year thrust the Chinese company into the spotlight when two Glass Lewis executives, including the former chief accountant of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, resigned after the takeover. Standard & Poor's recently downgraded Xinhua Finance because of corporate-governance concerns. ..... In recent...

Just looking through Hillary Clinton's financial disclosure papers, released today and available at this link - http://tray.com/pfd/S07pfd/00001/00001217.pdf Some interesting new developments - Bill Clinton is the sole owner of "WJC International Investments LP, LLC" in New York, NY. It holds such interests as - Yucaipa Global Partnership Fund, LP (investment partnership that invests in securities of corporations that conduct significant operations in foreign countries) (general partner is YGOF GP, Ltd, c/o 1930 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90069) Garrard Worldwide Holdings Ltd (retail jeweler with flagship store in London, England). Garrard is the Crown Jeweller, and appears to...

Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and prominent investor Ron Burkle submitted a bid today to buy Tribune Co. of Chicago, which owns the Los Angeles Times, KTLA Channel 5 and the Chicago Cubs. Details about the offer and the price that the duo would be willing to pay remained unclear, but the Los Angeles-based businessmen have said for months that they wanted a local group to take control of The Times ADVERTISEMENT"Affiliates of the Broad Investment Company and [Burkle's] Yucaipa Companies have submitted a competitive bid for acquisition of the entire Tribune company," a source familiar with the offer said. Broad...

DUBAI DUETS Late Friday, Department of Justice lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel were attempting to determine if former President Bill Clinton had registered as an "Agent of a Foreign Principal." Federal statute requires that anyone -- even a former President -- doing political or public affairs work on behalf of a foreign country, agency or official must register with the Department, and essentially update his status every six months. It was not clear the Clinton had done so. If his status is less clear, here is what we do know: If Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton did not know...

Mendacious: Given to or marked by deliberate concealment or misrepresentation of the truth. John Garamendi is running for Lt. Governor and to supplement an apparent mendaciousness, he is praying for induced selective memory loss. Some fifteen years ago, as California insurance commissioner, Garamendi seized the assets of the Executive Life Insurance Company. In doing so, he allowed a questionable junk-bond player and a French government-owned bank to realize a humongous windfall despite a bunch of annuities and policyholders getting the short (and dirty) end of the stick. It is beyond troubling that the man who is ‘supposed’ to be the...