Gregory Roth
Expect to see a modest bump-up in money committed by the nation’s largest public pension funds this year, according to experts, because of a strengthening stock market, a healthy pace of distributions and the persistence of large unfunded pension liabilities.
The pace of new private equity and alternative investments at the Florida State Board of Administration is likely to reach about $6 billion in fiscal 2012-2013, as Florida’s primary $126 billion pension fund gradually ramps up its allocations to so-called strategic investments from zero to 11 percent of the portfolio, according to John Kuczwanski, an SBA spokesman.
The $150 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, one of the nation’s biggest emerging manager investors, has created a special $250 million separate account for private equity co-investments alongside such managers, according to a senior official at the fund.
Clearlake Capital Group, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based firm, closed on its third fund, Clearlake Capital Partners III LP, having raised $789 million in commitments from a number of prominent investors. The closing was announced on Jan. 3, but actually occurred in December.
The $11 billion Maine Public Employees Retirement System, which only started investing in private equity in 2008, plans to double its allocation to PE and also boost other alternatives like infrastructure and commodities, according to Andrew Sawyer, the pension’s chief investment officer.
1. Your firm, which has been around since 2001, focuses on the lower-middle market, mainly in the Midwest. Besides returns, what are your investors most interested in? One of our founding theses was to stay in the lower middle market, and because we are based in Cleveland, we also have a geographic focus. Many firms […]
When all the numbers are in, 2012 will go down as one of the biggest years for fundraising in the United States, boosted by a dramatic return of mega-funds.
The North Carolina State Treasury, which runs the state’s $77 billion in pension assets, named Kevin SigRist to be its new chief investment officer, according to Julia Vail, a spokeswoman for the treasury. SigRist, who plans to start on Jan. 14, will oversee 22 investment professionals.
Fresh from taking on the additional role of chief investment officer, Michael Trotsky, executive director of the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, moved to shore up his agency’s brain drain by pushing through a new compensation plan that aims increases incentives for strong performance. The plan was approved at MassPRIM’s Dec. 6 board meeting.
The chiefs of the world’s two biggest private equity firms described their asset class as one of the last, best hopes available to score the kinds of returns investors need to catch up following the broken hopes of the financial crisis, when pension funds and individual investors generally fell short of their investment goals.