Vice President Pence Meets with African American Business, Finance Leaders

Vice President Mike Pence, along with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, hosted an African American economic opportunity listening session recently with small business owners, and community and finance industry leaders. The Vice President emphasized the need to create more access to capital for small businesses, reduce regulatory burdens from Dodd-Frank, expand access to better education via school choice and vocational education, and dedicate more resources to law enforcement to keep communities safe. Overall, the group discussion focused on ways to empower and revitalize distressed communities through economic development so that all Americans, including African Americans, can improve their quality of life. Participants included:

• Walter Davis - Co-founder/Managing Partner, Integrated Capital Strategies
• Dr. Dexter Easley - CEO of (DEM) Dexter Easley Ministries, New Life Salon, The Good News Christian Store, and is the Founder and CEO of New Life Christian Academy
• Robert L. Greene - President & CEO, National Association of Investment Companies
• Lt. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins USAF (Ret) – Director, Defense Information Systems Agency and Commander, Joint Force Headquarters - Department of Defense Information Networks
• Gary Hobbs – CEO of Black and White Investments (BWI)
• Jessie Knight – Philanthropist and former EVP of External Affairs for Sempra Energy
• Dan Martin – Owner of Dan Martin Allstate Insurance Agency and Financial Advisor
• B. Doyle Mitchell – President/CEO of Industrial Bank
• Bob Woodson – Founder and President of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise

How Diversity Adds Value

NAIC Perspectives, the NAIC web video series that offers insight into the world of diverse managers and the industries in which they invest, presents a new installment. David J. Grain, Founder and Managing Partner of Grain Management LLC, shares his thoughts on the value diverse managers bring to their corporate partners and his approach to team-building. An active participant in national civic affairs, President Barack Obama appointed Mr. Grain to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) in July 2011. Click the image below to view all of the videos.

NAIC Road Show Visits Columbia, SC

The NAIC and nine members participated in a meeting at South Carolina Retirement System Investment Corporation (RSIC) on February 7. The meeting was the first time NAIC has engaged with the $29 billion public pension plan, which was attended by the RSIC’s leadership and Private Markets staff and was preceded by a productive meeting with Columbia, SC Mayor Steve Benjamin. Participants included:

• Mike Hitchcock, CEO
• Geoff Berg, CIO
• Robert Feinstein, Managing Director of Public and Private Markets
• Joshua Greene, Investment Officer
• Derek Connor, Investment Officer

Debye Alderman, the Director of Finance and Administration of the College of Charleston, also joined the meeting.

The breakdown of RSIC's current portfolio is 9% in private equity, 7% in private debt, and 5% in real estate, which will be increasing to 7%. The private debt exposure comes from credit, and the real estate portfolio is through REITs. RSIC CIO Berg shared his belief that there are more and better opportunities with funds in the $1 billion range versus the over $10 billion range, noting that RSIC had not made any commitments below $100 million since he has been CIO.

Five Most Common Compliance Deficiencies

In this installment of Compliance Corner, ICSGroup takes a look at the five compliance areas most commonly cited in deficiency letters sent to SEC-registered investment advisers: Compliance policies and procedures, required regulatory filings, custody, code of ethics, and books and records. The SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations staff cited many instances where advisors’ compliance manuals were not reasonably tailored to the advisers’ business or the compliance manual was outdated. Also cited were firms with sufficient compliance manuals but whose employees failed to follow compliance policies and procedures. This installment offers compliance tips for each area to ensure firms remain up to date with compliance policies and procedures.

NAIC Members in the News

Clearlake Capital Portfolio Company Prices Public Offering

Smart Sand, Inc., a portfolio company of Clearlake Capital, has priced a public offering of 5,950,000 shares of its common stock at $17.50 per share, of which 1,500,000 shares are to be sold by the company and 4,450,000 shares are to be sold by the selling stockholders. The selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase from the selling stockholders up to an additional 892,500 shares of the company’s common stock. The company’s shares of common stock are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "SND." Smart Sand, Inc. is a pure-play, low-cost producer of high-quality Northern White raw frac sand, which is a preferred proppant used to enhance hydrocarbon recovery rates in the hydraulic fracturing of oil and natural gas wells.

Neuberger Berman Division Closes Fund III with $5.3 Billion

Dyal Capital Partners, a division of Neuberger Berman Group, announced that in December it closed Dyal Capital Partners III (PE), its third fund, with approximately $5.3 billion of committed capital. Dyal increased the target fund size by over $2.0 billion during the marketing period, as investment opportunities increased and investor interest in the strategy was strong. The fund was heavily oversubscribed at the final close. Aggregate commitments across all Dyal funds now total more than $8.7 billion from 160 unique global investors, solidifying Dyal’s position as the leading provider of minority equity capital to well-established private equity and hedge fund management companies. Dyal has formed minority partnerships with 20 firms and expects to announce several more relationships in 2017.

One Rock Capital Affiliate to Divest Specialty Chemicals Platform

Elementis plc announced that it entered an agreement to acquire SRLH Holdings, Inc. (SummitReheis) from an affiliate of One Rock Capital Partners, LLC for an enterprise value of $360 million. For the year ended 31 December 2016, SummitReheis is expected to report revenue of $134 million and underlying EBITDA of approximately $28 million. The acquisition enterprise value is equivalent to approximately 11.8x SummitReheis expected underlying EBITDA for 2016 (including run rate cost synergies). SummitReheis is a specialty chemicals platform that produces a range of critical active ingredients and materials tailored for use in personal care, pharmaceutical and dental products.

Vista Portfolio Company Acquires Cloud Security Provider

Forcepoint, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, announced the acquisition of the Skyfence business from Imperva. Skyfence provides visibility and control over cloud applications approved for use by an organization (e.g., NetSuite, Office 365, Salesforce, Workday), as well as those employees might use without approval (e.g., Dropbox, G Suite and Box). Skyfence helps companies to determine which cloud applications are in use by employees, analyzes content in real-time to prevent malicious or unauthorized leakage and quickly identifies and blocks cyber-attacks. The Skyfence team will continue to be based in Ramat Gan, Israel.

UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS

6th Annual Private Equity US Forum - March 12-17, 2017

On behalf of our colleagues at Markets Group, the National Association of Investment Companies invites you to the upcoming 6th Annual Private Equity US Forum taking place on March 16-17, 2017 at The Harmonie Club in New York. As part of our partnership we are authorized to extend a special 15% discount off the registration fee.

The event brings together the leading illiquid alternative allocators including pensions, foundations, endowments, family wealth, investment consultants, OCIO, sovereign funds, hospital plans and insurance private market investors for a two-day networking and peer education platform. Speakers include Daniel D'Aniello, Chairman & Co-Founder, The Carlyle Group; Suneel Kaji, Director - Co-Investments & Emerging Markets, The University of Texas Investment Management Company; Petya Nikolova, Head of Infrastructure Investments, Office of the New York City Comptroller; and more.

Please contact Dawn Simmons ([email protected]) for the NAIC registration discount code.

SEO Eighth Annual Alternative Investments Conference - March 16, 2017

This must-attend conference features industry-leading speakers, educational panels and robust networking opportunities designed to increase access and career development for more than 500 professionals from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in alternative investments. It is a key part of SEO’s pioneering work to expand diversity in the sector.

AICON is a valuable chance to hear the insights of prominent leaders from private equity, hedge funds, real estate, venture capital, limited partners, fund of funds, emerging managers, and recruiting firms.