Searches and Hires

New York State Common allocates $650 million to 4 managers

New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, made three private equity commitments totaling $400​ million and hired DoubleLine Capital for a MBS portfolio in December, according to information posted on the website of Thomas DiNapoli, the state comptroller and sole trustee of the $201.3 billion pension system.

The pension fund committed $350 million to Affinity Asia Pacific Fund V, managed by Affinity Equity Partners, which will invest in multiple industries in South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, China and other Southeast Asian countries, according to the pension fund's website.

The pension fund also made a $25 million commitment to DCP Capital I, whose investments will be made primarily in China. The DCP transaction is a new relationship for the fund. Further information, including the name of the manager, was not available.

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It also committed $25 million as part of its emerging manager program to LightBay Investment Partners, managed by LightBay Capital, a new relationship for the pension plan. The fund focuses on "making special situations and distressed credit investments" in the U.S. and Canada, the website said.

The pension fund also reported an initial fixed-income investment of $250 million in the long-duration fund of DoubleLine Capital. The money came from "dedicated fixed-income cash," the website said.

"This is a long-duration (mortgage-backed securities) portfolio focuses on the purchase of agency MBS related to Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for Mr. DiNapoli, wrote in an email. This is a new relationship for the pension fund, he added.

The pension fund also announced it had reduced by $300 million the Brown Capital Management domestic equity account as part of rebalancing, allocating the money to cash. The Brown Capital account still has $1.03 billion, Mr. Sweeney wrote. Brown Capital is the "best manager in the portfolio," he added. "Strong performance has made them a large component of the small-cap portfolio."

It also made a follow-on investment of $227 million to the Channing Capital Management domestic equity account. The pension fund previously invested $70 million in the strategy. Further details were not provided.

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