Minnesota State Board of Investments, St. Paul, approved the recommendation of its investment committee to commit a total of $950 million to seven alternative investment funds during a Dec. 2 board meeting, said Mansco Perry III, executive director and chief investment officer, in an email.
From the board's $15.2 billion private equity portfolio, $550 million will be committed to five private equity managers, a report from the board meeting showed.
The largest commitment to private equity — $200 million — was to Vista Equity Partners Perennial Fund, a permanent capital fund that will focus on providing funding for product expansion and enhancements to industry-leading software companies. Vista Equity Partners is a new manager for the board.
Three existing private equity managers received commitments to new funds from the Minnesota board.
Leonard Green & Partners received a $150 million commitment to Green Equity Investors VIII, a buyout fund. Lexington Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners each were awarded $100 million commitments, respectively, to Lexington Co-Investment Partners V Overage and Madison Dearborn Capital Partners VIII, a middle-market buyout fund.
Existing manager Marathon Asset Management received a $200 million commitment to Marathon Distressed Credit Fund I from the board's $2.9 billion distressed/opportunistic portfolio.
From the $2.4 billion private credit pool, new manager HPS Investment Partners was given a $100 million commitment to invest in HPS Mezzanine Partners 2019.
Finally, from the board's $2.8 billion real estate portfolio, $100 million was committed to Rockwood Capital Real Estate Partners Fund XI, a value-added fund. Rockwood is an existing manager for SBI.
As of Sept. 30, the Minnesota State Board of Investment managed $99.5 billion in public funds, including $73.6 billion of defined benefit plan assets and $7.2 billion of participant-directed retirement funds.