New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, hired two domestic equity managers and made three private equity and one opportunistic alternatives commitments in May, totaling nearly $3.3 billion, according to a transaction report on the website of Thomas DiNapoli, state comptroller and sole trustee of the $206.9 billion pension fund.
The pension fund hired AQR Capital Management to manage $2.5 billion in a domestic equity strategy benchmarked against the Russell 1000 index and Palisade Capital Management to run $300 million in a domestic equity strategy benchmarked against the Russell 2000. Both mandates were funded from internally managed domestic equity accounts.
The private equity commitments were:
- $300 million to Blackstone Core Equity Partners, managed by Blackstone Group, which will make investments in high-quality, solid growth companies primarily in the U.S.
- $30 million to PVP Fund II-A, managed by Primary Venture Partners, which will invest in early-stage technology companies in the northeastern U.S.
- $15 million to Innovation Endeavors III, a venture capital fund.
The pension fund has existing relationships with Blackstone and Primary Venture Partners. The Innovation Endeavors commitment was made through the Hamilton Lane/NYSCRF Israel Fund.
Under the pension fund's opportunistic alternatives asset class, $150 million was committed to Varde Specialty Finance Fund, managed by Varde Partners, which invests primarily in specialty finance lenders and related businesses in North America and Europe.
