San Bernardino County (Calif.) Employees' Retirement Association committed $60 million to Avenue-SB Opportunities Fund LP, a private equity fund of one managed by Avenue Capital Group, said Sierra Orr, communications officer for the $7.5 billion pension fund.
The Avenue fund will primarily make debt or equity investments in small and-midsize European companies in distress. The fund may add opportunistic investments in Asian and North American companies.
Separately, the board at its March 6 meeting removed an item from the agenda seeking the termination of real estate consultant Townsend Group and the expansion of general investment consultant NEPC's work to include real estate consulting. The matter was referred back to the investment committee. At the request of the investment committee, staff had reviewed the pension fund's existing investment consulting services and recommended terminating Townsend because staff does not believe “a specialist real estate investment consultant is ideal for SBCERA,” according to a memo to the board.
The board also voted to begin a search for an investment officer be filled as “either an investment officer or senior investment officer, depending on the quality of the applicant pool,” according to a memo to the board. The board also approved hiring recruiter Ralph Andersen & Associates to conduct the search.
