Kern County Employees' Retirement Association, Bakersfield, Calif., plans to make about $345 million in private markets commitments in each of 2025 and 2026, at which time the $6 billion pension fund expects to reach its 18% long-term allocation for private assets, according to materials issued in conjunction with the Feb. 12 board meeting.
As of Sept. 30, KCERA’s private markets portfolio totaled $842 million in assets, or about 14% of total plan assets.
Of that portion, private credit had a 6.2% actual allocation (8% target), private equity had a 4.8% allocation (5%) and private real estate had a 3.1% allocation (5%).
The pension fund said in the meeting materials that “moving into 2025, private markets continue to tick back to their long-term trends from a fundraising and capital deployment standpoint, as have valuations. We expect private investment performance to improve.”
In 2024, KCERA made $398 million in private markets commitments to 13 funds — six private credit funds, four private equity funds and three private real estate — and two co-investments.
