Maryland State Retirement & Pension System, Baltimore, invested or committed $1.5 billion to 12 managers from June through August, according to documents from its Tuesday board meeting.
In private equity, the $54.2 billion pension fund committed a total of $501 million to seven funds. The pension fund committed $100 million each to Tiger Iron Old Line Fund II, a venture capital fund managed by Tiger Iron Capital, and Great Hill Equity Partners VII, a buyout fund managed by Great Hill Partners. Also, $85 million was committed to Advent Global Private Equity IX, a buyout fund managed by Advent International; $75 million to Vistria Fund III, a buyout fund managed by Vistria Group; $71 million to Pacific Equity Partners Fund VI, a middle-market buyout fund that will target investments across multiple business sectors in Australia and New Zealand; and $35 million each to Point 406 Ventures IV and Point 406 Opportunity Fund II, both managed by venture capital firm .406 Ventures.
The pension fund also hired three equity managers to run a total of $493 million: $400 million to TT International's emerging markets equity strategy, $50 million to Bridge City Capital's U.S. small-cap strategy, and $43 million to Denali Network Value International Small investment strategy, which focuses on stocks with low liquidity and low market cap, managed by Denali Advisors.
In absolute return, the pension fund invested $400 million total in two hedge funds: $200 million in HSCM Bermuda, which is managed by Hudson Structured Capital Management and invests across the insurance and reinsurance sectors; and $200 million in Tudor Maniyar Macro Fund, managed by Tudor Investment.
Lastly, the pension fund committed $150 million to CVI Chesapeake Credit Opportunities, a distressed credit fund managed by CarVal Investors.
Separately, the board on Tuesday extended Meketa Investment Group's contract as its investment consultant for a one-year period, effective July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021. The initial five-year contract with Meketa expired on June 30 this year and had the option of two one-year extensions. The board approved the first one-year option last year.
As of June 30, the pension fund's asset allocation was 50.8% growth equity, 19.1% rate sensitive, 13.5% real assets, 9.1% credit/debt, 7.4% absolute return and the rest cash.
