New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, made eight alternative investment commitments totaling up to $1.7 billion in April, according to a post on the website of Thomas P. DiNapoli, the state comptroller and sole trustee of the $242.3 billion pension fund.
The pension fund made three credit commitments:
- $350 million to LCM Partners CO IX, a separately managed account that invests in unsecured loans, credit cards, mortgages, asset finance and auto loans. LCM is a new relationship for the pension fund.
- €250 million ($270 million) to Blantyre Special Situations Fund III, a private debt fund managed by Blantyre Capital that targets "stressed and distressed corporate financing opportunities, non-distressed companies requiring complex capital structure solutions, and other credit-oriented special-situations investments" primarily in Europe, the website said. Blantyre is an existing relationship.
- €250 million to Madison Square Fund III, a fund-of-one co-investment vehicle for Blantyre Special Situations Fund III also managed by Blantyre Capital.
The pension fund also made two real assets commitments: $300 million to Brookfield Infrastructure Fund V, a core infrastructure fund managed by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners that focuses on "high-quality, core infrastructure assets" in North America, Europe, South America and the Asia-Pacific region, and targets transportation, renewable power, utilities, energy and data infrastructure; and $200 million to Northleaf Infrastructure Capital Partners IV, a closed-end fund managed by Northleaf Capital Partners that focuses on renewables, energy transition, communications and transportation. Brookfield and Northleaf are existing relationships.
The pension fund also made a private equity commitment of $250 million to Genstar Capital Partners XI, a buyout fund that invests in financial services, software, industrials and health-care businesses primarily in the U.S. Genstar is a new relationship.
The pension fund made real estate commitments via its emerging manager program, both through Empire GCM RE Anchor Fund/GCM Grosvenor, a partner in the program. The commitments are new relationships. Up to $15 million was committed to Standard Real Estate Investments Industrial I, which will invest in industrial projects across the U.S.; and a total of up to $15 million was committed to Alpaca VC Fund III and Alpaca Built World Fund I, both managed by Alpaca VC Investment Management, which will invest in physical real estate and real estate operating companies.
In another transaction, the pension fund made a follow-on $200 million public equity investment in the BlackRock MSCI Climate Change index fund, adding to the initial $800 million investment made in January.
The pension fund also liquidated its investment of about $246 million in a FTSE Environmental Technology 50 index fund, an in-house global fund in the pension fund's public equity portfolio. The money was allocated to cash. Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for Mr. DiNapoli, wrote in an email that the pension fund doesn't comment on terminations.
