New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, made $1.37 billion in commitments or investments, said Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the sole trustee of the $181.7 billion pension fund.
The pension fund hired Leading Edge Investment Advisors to run a $400 million manager-of-emerging managers strategy, Mr. Sweeney wrote. “Their mandate is to create a portfolio of emerging managers that invest in small-cap equity,” he wrote.
The New York pension fund also made a $300 million commitment to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII, an opportunistic real estate fund managed by Blackstone Group. He wrote that the pension fund has made $1.6 billion in previous investments in Blackstone Real Estate Partners funds.
The pension fund made the following private equity commitments:
- $300 million to TPG Growth Fund III, which Mr. Sweeney described as investing in “global growth capital and other private equity transactions in middle-market companies,” and $250 million to TPG Partners VII, a global buyout fund. The pension fund had made commitments of $1.7 billion to 10 other TPG-managed funds.
- $85 million to Capital Alliance Private Equity IV, which focuses on investing in Nigeria and other West Coast African countries. This is a first-time commitment to African Capital Alliance.
- $30 million to PVP Fund I-A, managed by Primary Venture Partners (formerly known as High Peaks Ventures) for investing in “seed and early-stage companies in New York state,” Mr. Sweeney wrote. The pension fund previously made two other commitments totaling $45 million for funds managed by the firm.
New York State Common Retirement Fund also reduced amounts in two investments. It cut $160 million from the Systematic Financial Management small-cap value equity portfolio, which still has about $400 million.
It also cut $195 million from a BlackRock Russell 2000 index fund, which still has about $2.46 billion. Mr. Sweeney said the assets will be used to invest with a new manager, but he didn’t provide details.
