San Francisco City & County Employees’ Retirement System disclosed recent private equity and real estate commitments totaling up to $277 million, said Norm Nickens, board secretary.
The $20 billion pension fund committed up to $100 million to Weathergage Capital Investments 2016 and up to $25 million to Weathergage Venture Capital IV. The pension fund most recently in December 2013 made commitments to three funds from venture capital manager Weathergage: up to $30 million to Weathergage Capital Investments B, $25 million to Weathergage Capital Investments A and $20 million to Weathergage Venture Capital III.
Also, the pension fund committed up to $100 million to Gateway Real Estate Fund V, managed by Gaw Capital Partners. The pension fund previously committed $50 million to Gateway Real Estate Fund IV in August 2013.
The pension fund also committed up to €45.9 million ($52.3 million) to AnaCap Credit Opportunities III, a distressed debt fund managed by AnaCap Financial Partners. No prior commitments to the manager by the pension fund could be found.
Separately, the pension fund named finalists in its search for a hedge fund consultant and/or hedge fund-of-funds manager. An RFP was issued in March 2015. The month before the RFP was issued, the board had approved a 5% allocation to hedge funds/absolute return and pension fund officials at the time said they anticipated building the hedge fund program over the next six to 18 months.
The finalists are hedge fund consultant Aksia and hedge fund-of-funds managers Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, Grosvenor Capital Management, Lighthouse Partners and Mesirow Financial. Pension fund staff plans to complete onsite due diligence visits with the firms in April and May and then provide a recommendation to the board one month after the visits are completed.
Mr. Nickens said the pension fund is still considering whether to go with a consultant or fund-of funds firm or both. A consultant would have non-discretionary investment responsibilities, while the hedge fund-of-funds manager would have some discretion.
