Chicago Policemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund is searching for one or more private market brokers to assist with the sale on the secondary market of some of the $2.45 billion fund's private equity holdings.
Pension fund trustees approved the search for the fund's first private markets brokers as part of “portfolio housekeeping” to clear the $124 million private equity portfolio of "tail-end funds" for which much of the return already has been distributed, said Aoifinn Devitt, chief investment officer, in an email.
The number of private equity stakes to be sold has not been set, Ms. Devitt said, noting “it all depends on the price. We are not a forced seller so likely will only be interested in selling if the price is right.”
Investment consultant NEPC is assisting.
The brokers' primary role will be to conduct price discovery for the $124 million private equity fund-of-funds portfolio.
Other duties may include advice on the identification of assets and/or portfolios to sell as well as of potential buyers; transaction structure; analysis of asset/portfolio valuation and reserve pricing; and due diligence, according to the according to the RFP.
Proposals are due by 3 p.m. CDT May 1. The board will likely make a hiring decision later that month, Ms. Devitt said.
Separately, the board allocated $25 million to Blueprint Capital Advisors for investments in its income-generating portfolio at its March 22 meeting.
Blueprint Capital's manager-of-managers structure is “intended to provide access to esoteric income-generating solutions not already found within our portfolio and will be constructed to avoid overlap with our existing holdings,” Ms. Devitt said. Funding will come from the plan's approximately $319 million core fixed-income allocation.
The pension fund also committed $10 million each to Brookfield Asset Management and SoundMark Partners real estate debt strategies. Both are part of the pension fund's $74 million real estate portfolio.
The commitments are also part of the fund's search for income-generating solutions, which began in October.
Three other firms were hired as part of the same search at previous meetings: Ullico Investment Advisors, $50 million to infrastructure; Crestline Investors, $20 million to private credit; and Dorchester Capital Advisors, $25 million to hedge fund-of-funds secondary interests.
