Weekend Giant Reading: September 25 – 27, 2015

Since it’s been over a month since I’ve done a weekend reading post, I had over 1000 stories to wade through. These are the ones that stood out as the most important. Enjoy.

- Yale Shmale: Papers have all been reporting the remarkable performance of Yale’s endowment this year, noting with glee that it beat Harvard by miles. I’d like to point out that Yale got trounced by the New Zealand Super Fund by 3.5 percent over the same time period, despite the fact that Yale was undoubtedly further out on the risk curve. The Kiwi Model reigns.

- Fee Transparency: The Institutional Limited Partners Association has launched a brand new "Fee Transparency Initiative" for those private equity GPs that are looking for new fee transparency initiatives to ignore. Zing.

- Collaboration: Sweden's AP funds are, yet again, partnering with TIAA CREF on real assets. Together they've done two agriculture platforms, a timber platform and a real estate platform.

- Infrastructure Co-Investing: CDPQ just announced a $2.1 billion co-investment platform for Mexican infrastructure, while Qatar and Indonesia have decided to reactivate their $1 billion "Joint Infrastructure Fund."

- Funerals: Ontario Teachers is betting that . . . you. will. die. (Which, to be fair, you will. Cue Indiana Jones.) Kidding aside, OTPP just backed a 170-year-old funeral business in France.

- Compensation I: The Head of Private Equity at NYCRS got a massive 75% raise, thereby smashing through an important compensation barrier. Specifically, Alex Doñé will now earn a touch over 1% of what good GP partners earn. Kudos!

- Compensation II: It's nice to see a real debate over insufficient pension employee compensation taking place in San Diego.

- Overseas Expansion I: Texas Teachers is, to my knowledge, the first American public pension fund to open a London office.

- Overseas Expansion II: Korea's National Pension Service has just opened its 3rd overseas office; this one will be in Singapore.

- Selfie: Icy-veined capitalists unearth alpha in an unexpected place . . . Sustainability! Read my latest post on the University of California's "non-divestment."

Have a great weekend!