The New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, announced six commitments and investments made in May totaling $1.31 billion, according to the website of Thomas DiNapoli, the state comptroller and sole trustee of the $210 billion pension fund.
The pension fund made a $500 million real assets commitment to Brookfield Infrastructure Fund IV, managed by Brookfield Asset Management, which will "focus on acquiring a diversified portfolio of high-quality, core infrastructure assets on a value basis," the website said. Business sectors will include transportation, renewable power and utilities. The pension fund made a $300 million commitment to Brookfield Infrastructure Fund III in 2016, Jennifer Freeman, a spokeswoman for Mr. DiNapoli, wrote in an email.
The pension fund made a €280 million ($314 million) commitment to Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe VI, a commingled real estate fund managed by Blackstone Group. The fund will seek to acquire "distressed, out of favor, and undermanaged properties at attractive pricing," Ms. Freeman wrote. Blackstone is an existing relationship.
In private equity, $280 million was committed to TA XIII, managed by TA Associates. "TA will pursue growth-oriented investments in North America, Western Europe and Asia in the technology, health-care, consumer, financial services and business services industries," the website said. TA Associates is an existing relationship.
Another private equity commitment was to NFX Capital Fund II for $5 million, through the Hamilton Lane/NYSCRF Israel Fund, a separate account managed by Hamilton Lane that invests in private equity funds and co-investments in Israel, Ms. Freeman wrote. The NFX fund is an early stage venture capital fund, she added.
The pension fund also made a $200 million opportunistic alternatives commitment to Clearlake Opportunities Partners II, managed by Clearlake Capital Group. This is "a special situations fund targeting non-control investments in U.S. middle-market companies," the website said. "Investments will include senior debt, stressed high yield and senior preferred equity from primary and secondary markets." Clearlake is an existing relationship.
The pension fund also made a follow-on $10 million commitment to BIG Real Estate Fund I, made through the Frontier Mach II, which is the pension fund's emerging manager program and is managed by Artemis Real Estate Partners. BIG Real Estate Fund I is a closed end, commingled fund managed by Basis Investment Group. It is "focused on originating, co-originating, or acquiring debt and structured equity investments" in the U.S., the website said. The pension fund previously made a $25 million to BIG Real Estate Fund I in November 2017.
Separately, New York State Common terminated a Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors intermediate fixed-income portfolio as of May 1. "The relationship with Smith Graham ended because we now manage those core assets in house," Ms. Freeman wrote. The account had a value of $549 million, the website said.
