Employees Retirement System of Texas, Austin, may consider investing in fund of funds, possibly for its emerging manager portfolio, said Sharmila Chatterjee Kassam, chief of staff, investment division for the $26 billion pension fund.
Ms. Kassam spoke on a panel at the Pension Bridge’s The Private Equity Exclusive conference in Chicago on July 21. While pension fund officials have a preference for investing directly in private equity funds, they may consider fund of funds.
Pension fund officials would think of fund of funds managers more as partners bolstering the pension fund’s internal expertise in specialized areas.
Meanwhile, the panel’s moderator, John M. Barger, chairman of the board of investments of the $47 billion Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, Pasadena, Calif, said during the panel that the pension fund may consider investing more capital with emerging managers and less capital with large private equity firms.
“We think about seeding talented people...and foregoing some of the larger managers,” Mr. Barger said.