Dan Loeb can’t take the heat.
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Hedgie playing hooky
Loeb cuts teachers
nypost.com By MICHELLE CELARIER Last Updated: 12:49 AM, April 18, 2013 Posted: 12:01 AM, April 18, 2013
Dan Loeb can’t take the heat.
The billionaire hedge-fund manager pulled out of a panel discussion at a national conference of institutional investors today in Washington to avoid getting quizzed by teacher union bosses about his stance on their public pension plans.
Loeb’s decision to skip out came the same day The Post reported that several pension-plan trustees planned to press him to explain his position at the conference.
Loeb is involved with StudentsFirst, an education-reform group that wants to eliminate defined-benefit pensions for teachers. Loeb is on the board of the group’s New York chapter and has donated $75,000 to the cause.
Paul Martinka
Dan Loeb
At the same time, Loeb, who runs $12 billion hedge fund Third Point, invests money on behalf of public pension plans and actively courts their investments — an apparent contradiction that has not escaped the attention of the American Federation of Teachers, whose members have a combined $800 billion in retirement funds.
In a statement, Loeb admitted the controversy led him to bow out, while he played down reports of his conservative policies.
“Contrary to reports, I have never taken a position against [defined benefit] plans nor has any philanthropic organization I lead,” he wrote.
On its website, StudentsFirst states that defined-pension plans for teachers “contribute to a looming fiscal crisis that could compromise instruction.”
It adds: “For this reason, states should move from defined benefits to retirement plans that are more sustainable and can be immediately accessed by all teachers.”
StudentsFirstNY doesn’t directly address the issue in its mission statement, although it links to the umbrella StudentsFirst site.
In addition to Loeb’s involvement with StudentsFirst, the AFT points out that he is on the board of the conservative Manhattan Institute, which supports the move to abolish defined-benefit plans.
Loeb was scheduled to speak on a panel moderated by Anne Sheehan, the director of corporate governance for the California State Teachers Retirement System, which is known for its activist investment policy, along with Barry Rosenstein of JANA Partners, who will still speak.
Sheehan, who is also chair of the group hosting the conference, said “I deeply regret but understand Dan Loeb’s decision.”
mcelarier@nypost.com |
