Security News > 2021 > August > Oregon Examines Spyware Investment Amid Controversy
The Oregon state employee pension fund is one of the largest investors, if not the largest, having committed $233 million to Novalpina Capital, the private equity firm, in 2017.
Novalpina Capital has been saddled with both an internal dispute among its founding partners and an explosive report showing NSO Group's spyware has been widely misused around the globe.
"I can confirm that, consistent with our fiduciary duties to Oregon beneficiaries, and along with other limited partners, Treasury is involved in discussions related to our investment in Novalpina," Wray said Wednesday.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read, who serves as the state's chief investment officer, "Is following and concerned about the reporting surrounding Novalpina and the NSO Group," Wray said.
Stephen Peel and Stefan Kowski, two founding Novalpina Capital partners, showed up at Oregon treasury offices in the Portland suburb of Tigard in November 2017 to make a pitch to the Oregon Investment Council, which oversees the state's $90 billion pension fund.
In 2019, Novalpina Capital and the founders of NSO Group acquired a majority stake in NSO Group from another private equity firm, Francisco Partners, that the Oregon pension fund had previously invested in.