The New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, made up to $2.22 billion in seven commitments and investments, according to a notice posted on the website of Thomas DiNapoli, the state comptroller and sole trustee of the $209.2 billion fund.
All of the transactions were made in October.
Among the private equity commitments were:
- Hellman & Friedman IX, managed by Hellman & Friedman, for $325 million focusing on large cap companies primarily in the U.S. and Europe. The pension fund has made seven prior commitments to Hellman & Friedman for about $1.22 billion.
- KSL Capital Partners V for $300 million, emphasizing investments in the travel and leisure industry. The pension fund has made two prior commitments to KSL for $340 million.
- Asia Alternatives New York Co-Investment Pool Asia III for $300 million. "Asia Alternatives Co-Investment Pool is a component of the Asia Alternatives V fund-of-funds program that makes investments in funds, or co-investments in operating companies, in Asia Alternatives high conviction managers in Asia" for the New York pension fund," Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for Mr. DiNapoli, wrote in an email.
- Asia Alternatives New York Balanced Pool Asia Investors III for $200 million. "Asia Alternatives Balanced Pool is a separate account component of the Asia Alternatives V fund-of-funds program that makes equity investments in funds across Asia alongside their main fund of funds vehicle" for the New York pension fund, Mr. Sweeney wrote.
Both Asia Alternatives vehicles are managed by Asia Alternatives Management, for which the pension fund has made previous commitments.
The pension fund also made a €250 million ($282.8 million) commitment to EQT Partners EQT Empire Credit Solutions SCSP, described on the website as targeting investment strategies in stressed and distressed debt, middle-market financing, high-quality businesses, and senior secured financing and second lien financing.
"The opportunistic portfolio invests across a broad range of investment strategies that do not fit neatly into the definition of traditional asset classes or that share characteristics of multiple asset classes," Mr. Sweeney wrote. "The role of the opportunistic asset class is to add alpha to the fund's overall return with relatively low correlation to other asset classes."
This is the first investment with EQT within the opportunistic portfolio, but the private equity portfolio has made previous investments, Mr. Sweeney wrote.
The fund could make an additional commitment of €250 million at the end of the seven-year term of the contract, Mr. Sweeney wrote.
“At the end we have the discretion to re-up or not,” he wrote.
The New York pension fund also announced terminating a Ariel Investments Micro Cap domestic equity account. Mr. Sweeney wrote that terminating the $54 million asset separate account was due to "strategic allocation."
Concurrently, the pension fund announced a $300 million investment in an Ariel separate account benchmarked to the MSCI ACWI ex-U.S. index. The investment represented a "strategic re-allocation from U.S. to non-U.S." investments, Mr. Sweeney wrote. "Active manager exposure was the reason for the activity."
The pension fund also announced a $225 million investment in ARA Real Estate Partners Asia II, a closed-end diversified commingled real estate fund, according to the comptroller's website. ARA Asset Management is an existing relationship for the pension fund. Mr. Sweeney didn't provide details.
