Investors

It’s a shame CalPERS may refuse to take a negative stance on the SEC’s proposed placement agent ban, writes Christopher Witkowsky.

The special purpose acquisition vehicle set up by NRDC in 2007 is urging stockholders to allow it to continue operations as a REIT after failing to find a target business. The SPAC, which raised $414m in its 2007 IPO, will legally have to liquidate in October if shareholders say no.

The $182 billion US pension will choose from Meketa Investment Group, Pension Consulting Alliance, R.V. Kuhns & Associates and Wilshire Consulting to advise its nascent infrastructure investment programme.

Alice Connell has joined the value-added investor’s advisory board, joining the likes of Jim Didion and Tim Hoeppner, among others. Connell left TIAA-Cref in 2007 to form her own advisory firm, AM Connell Associates.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based firm has entered the exit stage for its AiM-listed real estate fund, VinaCapital. Including the Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel sale, the fund has exited 12 investments so far.

The Chinese sovereign wealth fund has held talks with BlackRock, Invesco and Lone Star as it looks to the US real estate market and distressed mortgage securities, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A California political ethics commission is investigating CalPERS board member Charles Valdes, who received $38,600 in campaign donations linked to Alfred Villalobos' placement firm.

LaSalle Investment Management and ING Real Estate Investment Management remain on a whittled-down shortlist to buy the management of the Wall Street Bank’s Asian Real Estate opportunity Fund and its other Asian real estate holdings.

Richard Valdes received $38,600 in campaign donations in 2005; much of them tied to placement agent Alfred Villalobos, who since 2006 has secured more than $4bn in CalPERS commitments.

The international private placement firm has joined the cacophony of calls from legitimate placement agents to alter a proposed rule providing a blanket ban on soliciting government entities.