Michigan Retirement Systems, Lansing, will invest $35 million in the InvestMichigan! Mezzanine Fund, a public-private partnership to fund small businesses based in the state.
The fund is the first one licensed through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s new Impact Investment Initiative, in which the SBA will commit a total of $1 billion to investment funds that focus on underserved markets and in sectors that have been defined as national economic priorities.
Along with the $51.36 billion Michigan Retirement Systems, the SBA is investing $80 million and Dow Chemical Co. also is investing $15 million in the new fund, said Dennis E. Byrne, SBA spokesman, in an e-mail.
