Texas Municipal Retirement System, Austin, committed a total of $280 million to five alternative investment funds managed by four firms.
At its Feb. 23-24 board meeting, trustees approved the recommendations of the investment team of the $25.1 billion fund for aggregate commitments of $155 million to two real-return funds, part of a $1 billion investment pacing plan for 2017, confirmed Bill Wallace, spokesman, in an email.
Sprott Resource Lending Fund, managed by Sprott Asset Management, received an $80 million commitment for loans offered to mining companies.
Actis Energy Fund 4 was awarded a $75 million commitment for investment in private power generation and distribution infrastructure projects across Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Separately, a total of $125 million was committed to three private equity funds focused on North American investment opportunities.
The pension committed $60 million to Marlin Equity Partners V and $15 million to its sister fund, Marlin Heritage Fund II. Both buyout funds are managed by Marlin Management Co. and concentrate on investments in software and technology companies; the Heritage fund seeks companies at the small end of the middle market.
Buyout fund One Rock Capital Partners II received a $50 million commitment for investment in smaller middle-market North American companies in the specialty manufacturing, health-care products, chemicals, business services, environmental services and automotive retail sectors.
The pension fund intends to commit up to $600 million to private equity strategies in 2017 with a focus on opportunistically adding growth and credit strategies, according to its current pacing plan.
Net performance of the fund was 7% for the year ended Dec. 31, compared to the benchmark return of 6.8%; annualized performance of the fund over five years was 6.5% vs. 6.2% for the benchmark.