PennSERS commits $250 million to 4 alternatives funds

Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg, committed $250 million to four alternatives funds, confirmed Pamela Hile, spokeswoman for the $30 billion pension plan.

At its meeting Wednesday, the board approved two commitments to two middle-market mezzanine funds managed by Intermediate Capital Group totaling $175 million — a commitment of €80 million ($100 million) to ICG Europe Fund VII, and $75 million to ICG North American Private Debt Fund II.

The board also made commitments of $50 million to Hahn & Co. III, a middle-market fund focused on companies in South Korea, and $25 million to Hahn & Co. III-S, which will co-invest alongside Hahn & Co. III.

The new investments will be funded from cash, subject to contract negotiations.

In addition, the PennSERS board selected LaSalle Investment Management to manage a real estate asset portfolio and Hotel Asset Value Enhancement to manage a hotel/hospitality asset portfolio. The sizes of the portfolios were not disclosed at press time.

The board also voted to reallocate $400 million to an existing investment with the BlackRock (BLK) Emerging Markets Index Fund from the Mellon Capital Management Russell 1000 index fund. Current amounts in the funds could not be learned by press time.

As of Dec. 31, the fund had an allocation of 66.8% to equities, 14.5% fixed income, 13.6% private equity, 7.5% real estate, 7.3% multiasset, 3.3% cash, and 0.7% legacy hedge funds.