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• A look at concerns at Alaska’s Permanent Fund over an alleged conflict of interest

Governance concerns at Alaska's $80 billion sovereign wealth fund

The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC), the state's $80 billion sovereign wealth fund, is embroiled in a governance dispute involving board member Gabrielle Rubenstein, daughter of Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein.

Leaked emails, first reported by local outlet The Alaska Landmine, suggest APFC leadership believes Rubenstein may have sought to unduly influence investment decisions and personnel matters.

Rubenstein is co-founder and managing partner of Manna Tree Partners, a growth equity firm based in Vail, Colorado, with around $570 million of assets under management. She was appointed to the Alaska Permanent Fund Board of Trustees in 2022 and elected vice chair in 2023.

Earlier this year, APFC leadership internally accused Rubenstein of attempting to steer state assets to friends and family members through an effort to shift more of the fund’s portfolio into alternative assets—even as the fund had formally decided to cut its exposure to the asset class. Despite that directive, documents show Rubenstein had repeatedly pushed for the build-out of a dedicated private credit team.

In a January email, Marcus Frampton, chief investment officer for APFC, criticized a lack of detail in Rubenstein’s private credit proposal before noting that “the more serious topic, and perhaps more uncomfortable to address, are Trustee Rubenstein’s conflicts of interest in the private credit space.”

“As we all know, she has made dozens upon dozens of investment manager referrals in her 18 months on the APFC board. Many of these have been in the private credit space, and my team has declined to pursue all of them,” he added.

Frampton went on to specifically name TCW, Churchill Asset Management, and Goldman Sachs as particularly troublesome, given their respective ties to both Carlyle and Manna Tree, as well as the “emphatic pitch” made by Rubenstein on their behalf.

A separate email details Rubenstein’s efforts to arrange meetings between APFC staff and outside managers.

In one instance, Allen Waldrop, APFC director of private equity investments, said that Rubenstein had organized an unplanned meeting in London last November between her father and a representative from the fund.

“There was no intention to spend any broader time with Carlyle in advance,” noted Waldrop.

“Ellie [Gabrielle Rubenstein] arranged a meeting between Catherine and DMR [David Rubenstein] and coordinated with Catherine directly. That was not something we discussed in advance, nor did we plan when we arranged the trip,” he continued.

The meeting in question led to a staffing dispute in which Rubenstein attempted to secure the firing of the APFC representative in attendance, a junior analyst named Catherine Hatch.

Rubenstein relayed that Hatch’s interaction with her father had left him “unimpressed” and told Frampton that Hatch should be terminated. In the same conversation, Rubenstein also allegedly called for the replacement of Tim Andreyka, APFC director of investments for real estate assets.

After Frampton shared the termination request internally, Waldrop responded, “Ellie knows Catherine and knows that she is an analyst with limited professional experience (which should be obvious because she is an analyst) and arranged the meeting anyway. Stating the obvious, but I would not expect one of the pioneers of the buyout market, who is also one of the wealthiest people in the US, to be impressed with an analyst with a couple year’s experience. I would not expect him to be impressed with me, either. Our goal when we meet firms is not to impress them.”

Speaking to The Financial Times, Rubenstein spokesman Chris Ullman acknowledged she made a series of external asset manager referrals to APFC staff but maintained she followed protocols and did not exert improper pressure. "She played no role in investment decisions, and no capital was deployed to those investment firms," Mr. Ullman stated. He also denied she set up the meeting with her father or asked to have anyone fired.

In response to the leaks, Rubenstein has sought to ban fund employees from forwarding internal emails.

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The leaked communications have renewed compliance and oversight concerns at the fund, which manages assets accumulated from Alaska's oil resources and provides critical funding for state infrastructure and services.

On Wednesday, Alaska State Representative Cliff Groh called for a legislative hearing to investigate the allegations, which he characterized as "disturbing."

APFC adviser John Skjervem, CIO of Utah Retirement System, said that he felt recent events "had really jeopardized the sanctity of the corporation."

In 2022, the fund made headlines when the APFC board voted to fire its former chief executive, Angela Rodell, in response to disagreements over her management of the organization. In early 2023, the fund’s governance committee commissioned an outside review of its internal policies from Funston Advisory Services.

Rubenstein’s appointment had also received criticism prior to this month’s leaked communications. Local media repeatedly questioned APFC’s relationship with Carlyle, which manages around $800 million of the fund’s money, in relation to state ethics and disclosure laws that bar APFC board members from taking official action on matters in which they or their families have a personal or financial interest.

In an investigation of her appointment, The Anchorage Daily News reported that Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy attended an hour-long meeting with Gabrielle Rubenstein and David Rubenstein at a Houston energy conference in early March of 2022.

Three days later, Dunleavy hosted Gabrielle Rubenstein for a private dinner meeting in Juneau. At the end of March, Dunleavy flew to Colorado for a conference hosted by Rubenstein’s Manna Tree, in which David Rubenstein also participated.

Dunleavy then appointed Rubenstein in July after the retirement of her predecessor was publicly announced.

In a panel discussion last year at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Rubenstein touched on the APFC board’s decision to lower its private equity allocation: “Boy, was my father not impressed.”

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In one email, chief investment officer Frampton shared his concerns with Sebastian Vadakumcherry, APFC’s chief risk and compliance officer, writing, “I would put it out there that a reasonable person looking at the facts here might question whether she has some conflicts that are clouding the independence of her positions here.”

“A reasonable person also might ask the question of whether she would be more enthusiastic about APFC personnel handling private credit investments had we elected to invest in TCW, Churchill, or Goldman Sachs private credit funds. A reasonable person might wonder if her current position is some sort of retaliation for rebuffing these investment referrals,” he added.

• Hg agreed to acquire AuditBoard, a connected audit, risk, and compliance platform, for more than $3 billion.

• Eni SpA (BIT:ENI) is exploring the sale of a 20 percent stake in its Enilive biorefining unit, which could be valued at around €10 billion, with potential interest from BlackRock, Brookfield, IFM Investors, and Macquarie, per Bloomberg.

• CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) is seeking a private equity partner to fund the expansion of Oak Street Health, a primary care provider it acquired for $10.6 billion in 2023, per Bloomberg.

• EQT is exploring the sale of a minority stake in Reworld, a waste management company, which could value the business at more than $8 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL), a UK-based wealth management platform, rejected a £4.7 billion acquisition offer from CVC Capital Partners, Nordic Capital, and IDIA.

• Advent International is in talks to invest in Prometheus Group, a Genstar-backed industrial software provider that could be worth more than $4 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Xavier Niel, the founder of French telecom provider Iliad, is exploring a potential buyout of Millicom International Cellular (Nasdaq: TIGO), a Latin American telecommunications and media company operating under the Tigo brand, at a valuation of around $4.1 billion.

• Advent International and GTCR are considering an acquisition of Envestnet (NYSE: ENV), a provider of wealth-management software trading at a market value of around $3.9 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Astorg is planning to hire bankers later this summer in preparation for the sale of Solina, a French food ingredients maker, which could be valued at up to $3 billion, per Bloomberg.

• TE Connectivity is considering a sale of its medical contract manufacturing business, which makes specialty needles and metal tubing, which could be worth more than $2 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Iberdrola (BME: IBE) is hoping to raise up to $1.8 billion through the sale of a stake in its portfolio of U.S. renewables assets.

• AE Industrial Partners is considering the sale of Firefly Aerospace, a manufacturer of rocket landers, which could be worth around $1.5 billion, per Bloomberg.

• Royalty Pharma (Nasdaq: RPRX) agreed to provide up to $575 million in funding to Cytokinetics (Nasdaq: CYTK) in support of the commercialization of its aficamten asset.

• Tata Group took full control of Tata Play, a subscription television broadcaster, after buying Walt Disney Co.'s 29.8 percent stake at a valuation of around $1 billion.

• Vitruvian Partners invested in Aduro Advisors, a Denver-based fund administrator for venture capital and private equity firms with over $120 billion in assets under administration.

• IGN Entertainment acquired Gamer Network, a UK-based portfolio of gaming publications, from ReedPop.

• KPS Capital Partners agreed to acquire Tate & Lyle's 49.7 percent interest in KPS portfolio company Primary Products Investments, a producer of plant-based food and industrial ingredients.

• PestCo Holdings, a portfolio company of Thompson Street Capital Partners, acquired Enviro-Safe Pest Control, a Perrineville, New Jersey-based provider of commercial pest control services.

• San Francisco Equity Partners merged Sales Concepts and Donovan Food Brokerage to form Xceed Foodservice Group, which will provide sales and marketing services to food suppliers.

• Latticework Capital Management sold Xpress Wellness, a physician-led rural healthcare platform, to Goldman Sachs Alternatives.

• Med Learning Group, a portfolio company of DW Healthcare Partners, agreed to acquire Talem Health, an accredited medical education provider.

• Rethink Education invested in Aanaab, a Saudi Arabian digital training platform for K-12 teacher professional development.

• Atari SA has acquired the Intellivision brand and more than 200 game titles from Intellivision Entertainment.

Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise

• DeepL, a developer of AI-powered language translation solutions, raised $300 million at a $2 billion valuation. Index Ventures led, with participation from ICONIQ Growth, Teachers' Venture Growth, IVP, Atomico, and WiL.

• Finout, a cloud cost optimization platform, raised $26.3 million in Series B funding. Red Dot Capital led, with participation from Maor Investments, Team8, Pitango, and Jibe Ventures.

• SOCRadar, a cybersecurity startup focused on external threat intelligence, raised $25.2 million in Series B funding. PeakSpan Capital led, with participation from Oxx.

• Orca AI, an autonomous maritime navigation platform, raised $23 million in new funding co-led by OCV Partners and MizMaa Ventures.

• Bolster, an AI-powered phishing protection platform, raised $14 million in Series B funding led by M12, with participation from Thomvest Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Liberty Global Ventures, Cheyenne Ventures, Cervin Ventures, and Transform Capital.

• Volt, an SMS-focused messaging ops infrastructure platform, raised $3 million in seed funding led by Mercury, with participation from Atento Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Stout Street Capital, and Yellow Rocks.

Fintech

• Colendi, a Turkish fintech startup, raised $65 million in Series B funding led by Citi Ventures, with participation from Migros Ticaret, Sepil Ventures, Re-Pie Asset Management, Finberg, and Hedef Holding.

• Footprint, a unified KYC and authentication platform, raised $13 million in Series A funding led by QED Investors, with participation from Index Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Operator Partners, BoxGroup, Palm Tree, Definition, Neo, and Animal Capital.

• Plume, a developer of blockchain solutions to tokenize real-world assets, raised $10 million in seed funding led by Haun Ventures, with participation from Galaxy Ventures, Superscrypt, A Capital, SV Angel, Portal Ventures, and Reciprocal Ventures.

Consumer & Media

• Remark, a live chat shopping platform, raised $10.3 million in seed funding. Spero Ventures led, with participation from Stripe, Neo, Shine Capital, Visible Ventures, and Sugar Capital.

Healthcare

• Grey Wolf Therapeutics, a biotech developing drugs for immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases, raised $50 million in Series B extension funding from ICG Life Sciences, Pfizer Ventures, Andera, Canaan, Earlybird, Oxford Science Enterprises, and British Patient Capital.

• Atropos Health, an AI-powered operating system for clinical evidence generation, raised $33 million in Series B funding led by Valtruis, with participation from McKesson Ventures, Cencora Ventures, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Breyer Capital, Emerson Collective, and Presidio Ventures.

• Radar Therapeutics, a biotech developing programmable genetic and mRNA therapeutics, raised $13.4 million in seed funding led by NfX Bio, with participation from Eli Lilly, KdT Ventures, Biovision, PearVC, and BEVC.

Industrials, Greentech, & Other

• Syre, a Swedish recycling tech startup, raised $100 million in Series A funding from TPG Rise Climate, H&M, Volvo Cars, Imas Foundation, and Giant Ventures.

• Enifer, a Finnish biotech focused on fungi-based proteins, raised €15 million in Series B funding led by Taaleri Bioindustry Fund I, with participation from Nordic Foodtech VC, Voima Ventures, and Valio. The round also included €7 million in junior debt from the Finnish Climate Fund, €2 million in environmental financing from Finnvera, and a €12 million grant from Business Finland.

• Harbinger, a developer of commercial medium-duty truck EVs, raised $13 million in new funding from the Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund.

• Fiberwood, a Finland-based materials technology startup focused on sustainable insulation and packaging, raised €7.7 million in new funding from Metsä Spring and Stephen Industries.

• Patient Square Capital is planning to raise more than $6 billion for its second fund, per Pitchbook.

• Permira is raising €750 million for a new middle market private credit fund, per the WSJ.

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