Long-time managing director David Mansell to leave Onex Partners; Vista Equity stands to double its money with Ping IPO; Omega’s Cooperman says private equity is a scam
Are you up to the challenge, Hubsters?
Every year, right before the presidential election really gets rolling, private equity gets attacked. We’ve already seen some of it with Elizabeth Warren‘s plan for private equity and how she wants to stop “Wall Street Looting.”
The war on PE has taken another twist. Leon Cooperman, the legendary hedge fund manager, said some not so nice things about private equity, while adding that he thought low interest rates have fueled returns that won’t last, Bloomberg is reporting. “I think it’s a scam personally,” Cooperman is quoted in the story.
Cooperman, who was speaking last night at the New York Alternative Investment Roundtable, then backtracked, saying the industry isn’t an actual scam, but that the high fees and lengthy lock-ups don’t appeal to him, the story said.
What’s really ironic is that it’s Cooperman saying this. He’s the head of Omega Advisors Inc, a once thriving hedge fund that peaked at over $10 billion in assets after the crisis, Forbes said. Cooperman in 2018 opted to close Omega and convert it into a family office because he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life “chasing the S&P 500,” the Financial Times said. Omega, at the time, managed about $3.6 billion.
Hubsters, we’ve written before about the rivalry between hedge funds and private equity. I quoted some execs in late 2018 who ribbed PE for its obsession with business school. But this is taking the fight to a whole new level.
What say you? What would you tell Cooperman? Please keep the comments as vanilla as possible because I may publish them. Email me at lbeltran@buyoutsinsider.com
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