Texas County & District commits $200 million to strategic credit, private equity

Texas County & District Retirement System, Austin, committed a total of $200 million to two alternative investment funds, a transaction report showed.

Investment officers committed $100 million to a new manager — Cheyne Capital Management — for investment in Cheyne European Strategic Value Credit Fund SCS SICAV-SIF from the $30 billion pension fund's strategic credit portfolio.

Cheyne Capital portfolio managers seek investment opportunities in market dislocations and mispricing in European subinvestment-grade credit in public and private debt instruments.

Including the Cheyne commitment, TCDRS has committed a total of $900 million to 15 strategic credit funds as of Nov. 1. In 2017, the pension fund committed a total of $250 million to two strategies, according to the transaction report.

TCDRS also committed $100 million from its private equity portfolio to a new fund — TSG8 — from existing manager TSG Consumer Partners. The pension fund committed a total of $80 million to the previous fund in the firm's fund family.

Both TSG funds invest in U.S. middle-market consumer products companies.

The most recent TSG private equity commitment is TCDRS' 25th this year as of Nov. 15 for a total of $1.002 billion. In 2017, the pension fund committed a total of $1.263 billion to 25 private equity funds.