--- I keep forgetting to link to this very interesting article in Forbes about Teddy Kennedy's namesake titled Ponying Up To Camelot. (registration required--it's painless and they don't spam you.)
Edward Kennedy Jr. is raising money from unions and public pension
funds--and socking investors with princely fees.
Edward M. Kennedy Jr. is quite the rainmaker. In less than two years
the scion of the stalwart U.S. senator from Massachusetts has raised
$100 million for the $325 million Intercontinental Real Estate Fund
III, tapping the pension boards of the labor unions that have supported
dad for years. Kennedy's Marwood Group will collect $1.2 million in
fees over three years for his efforts.
Rainmaker, eh? Yeah, thanks to daddy.
"Some people may insinuate that I am looking to trade on my family
name. This is definitely not the case," the junior Kennedy says in a
statement. Intercontinental's chief, Peter Palandjian, says Kennedy's
pay is money well spent. Intercontinental charges an annual 1.25%
management fee--plus an extra 0.9%, over three years, for marketing
expenses that include the Kennedy cut.
Yeah, we all know you don't want to trade on dear old dad's name, Ted. You Kennedys are all alike.
The name doesn't mean anything but what you can do for yourself, right?
You're a real bunch of bootstrappers. Mmmhmm. You worship at the altar
of Bootlegger Joe! You want to be just like him---before he dumped all
of his stock and crashed the market in '29! You're tortured by what
your surname has become. You really do wish you didn't have that last
name, because you want to make it on your own merits. You don't want your successes spoiled by charges of nepotism! In fact, you damn well declare that no one
should dare accuse you of such a thing, being the bootstrapper that you
are! The gall of it, you declare in your snooty Harrrvarrrd Yarrrd
accent, that anyone would even think such a thing! Pfft. But it seems
as if there's a whiff of something in dear old Camelot---and it doesn't
smell all that nice, either. Seems some of the "institutional
investors"---aka unions--- Junior's brought to the table don't appreciate Intercontinental's passing along of Junior's costs.
The $10 billionChicago Teachers' PensionFund, wooed by the younger
Kennedy, spent months mulling whether to invest $35 million with
Intercontinental. Jacob Silver, a 13-year veteran of the Chicago
pension board, learned about Intercontinental over dinner with Kennedy
at an Orlando conference last summer. Other Chicago trustees met with
Kennedy, and in November Intercontinental made a formal proposal to the
Chicago fund's board. The board's lawyer, JosephBurns, noticed the
marketing fee in the offering documents and alerted the board via
e-mail. "It took a lot of nerve even to ask us for the money," says
Silver. "Intercontinental hired him [Kennedy]--we didn't." He adds that
the pension fund had never before been asked to pay extra for a fund's
marketing costs.
I wonder if the husband's consultancy could get away with such a thing? Talk about a new source of revenue! Woohoo!
Chicago's board told Palandjian to drop the fee or forget about the
$35 million. Palandjian agreed to swallow the Chicago fund's portion.
Undeterred, Palandjian has re-upped with Kennedy to help raise a fourth
fund. The target:$250 million, for which Kennedy's firm could earn as
much as $4 million. Kennedy views the job as a public service: "I am
committed to building my company and providing the highest-quality
service to my friends in organized labor." He had better hope
prospective investors don't follow Chicago's lead.
God, what a scam. I can hear Junior's sales pitch to the guy at Intercontinental now---can't you?
Here, let me set you up with these unions. They support my dad, I
know these people, they've got tons of cash that's just waiting to be
invested by someone like you---particularly in this volatile market. I
have contact with them all the time. I'll chat with them and set up a
meeting for you with them. It's up to you from there, but to make sure
this isn't hurting you too much---rainmaking can be expensive, I know,
but to make money, you've gotta spend some---I'm sure they wouldn't
mind if you passed along my fee to them. They're a big investor. And
they'll love what you're trying to sell them. And after all,
they're a union, it's not like they care about spending money
anyway---it's all a free ride for them.
Sheesh. This guy has about as much charm as his father did when he took
nine hours to open up his date's door.*
*ruthlessly plagiarized from Dennis Miller. "Mr. Miller Goes To
Washington."