San Francisco City & County Employees' Retirement System committed up to $50 million to ABRY Partners VIII, a buyout fund raising $1.9 billion, and up to $50 million to Baring Asia Private Equity Fund VI, which is in the process of raising $3 billion.
Also, William J. Coaker Jr., chief investment officer, disclosed the $20 billion pension fund approved a $200 million investment with Asia Alternatives Management, with $50 million going to its Asia Alternatives Capital Partners IV private equity fund and $150 million going to a separate account.
Separately, the pension fund has narrowed its search for a consultant for its real assets portfolio to three firms — Townsend Group, Cambridge Associates and Real Asset Portfolio Management.
The pension fund first put out an RFP in April 2013, and investment staff announced in the fall that Callan Associates had been selected.
Callan would have replaced Townsend Group, the pension fund's real estate consultant, which was not a finalist for that consultant position which had been expanded to include all real assets strategies.
But investment staff announced at the June 11 meeting that Callan and the SFERS could not come to terms and voted to issue a new RFP. Pension fund board members at that meeting expressed concern that the process was taking too long and questioned why an agreement could not be reached with Callan.
Investment staff said they plan to interview all three consultants within the next few weeks and make a final decision shortly thereafter. But even those statements generated controversy. Board members debated whether it was necessary to interview all three candidates and whether the investment staff should just interview the consultant with the highest scores in the RFP process. The scores were not publicly disclosed.
In the meantime, Townsend has continued to serve as the pension fund's real estate consultant until a decision is made.
