Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds, Hartford, has no plans to commit further capital to investment funds managed by Apollo Global Management, confirmed Gabrielle Farrell, spokeswoman for Shawn T. Wooden, state treasurer and principal fiduciary of the $36 billion state pension plan.
"We reviewed Apollo this spring and determined, based on a variety of due diligence criteria, they did not meet our standards for making a new capital commitment," Ms. Farrell wrote in an email.
This decision follows the $59 billion Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System's recent announcement that the Harrisburg-based pension plan would not consider new investments with Apollo due to investigations over Chairman and CEO Leon Black's professional relationship with financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Although Mr. Black's connection to Mr. Epstein was not cited as the reason for not committing additional capital to Apollo, Ms. Farrell wrote that Connecticut considers "multiple factors when deciding whether or not to commit to private market funds," with an investment firm's "legal issues" being among the factors under consideration.
The CRPTF currently has a total of $250 million committed to two Apollo funds.
