Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System, Harrisburg, committed up to $50 million to Francisco Partners IV, said Pamela Hile, spokeswoman for the $28 billion pension fund.
The private equity fund invests in middle-market technology companies primarily based in North America, Europe and Israel.
This is the pension fund’s fourth investment with Francisco Partners.
In addition, PennSERS’ board approved a nine-month extension of its contract with its real estate investment consultant, Townsend Group, while the board seeks a permanent consultant to manage the real assets portfolio. An RFI for an investment consultant is being issued because the portfolio has expanded from real estate to real assets. An issue date has not yet been set.
The extension will begin July 1 and end March 31, 2016. Townsend is invited to respond to the RFI. The real assets portfolio, which was 16% of the total pension fund as of Sept. 30, includes real estate, energy and commodities.
The board also approved a one-year extension with Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates for fixed-income management for the state’s $2.8 billion voluntary deferred compensation program. Weaver C. Barksdale managed approximately $1 billion for the program as of Sept. 30.
