LPs

After flurry of re-ups, MassPRIM has $700 mln left to commit in 2015

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Photo courtesy of iStock/ RomoloTavani 000057092526
  • Pension has committed roughly $1 bln to PE and VC this year
  • Bulk of commitments YTD went to re-ups
  • More than halfway through its annual allocation for private debt

MassPRIM, which manages $62 billion in pension money, re-upped with nine private equity and venture capital funds in the first half of 2015, backing the latest efforts of, among others, Blackstone Group, Charterhouse Capital Partners and Thoma Bravo. The pension at its Feb. 11 meeting also formed one new relationship, with Rh?ne Group, when it committed $106 million to the firm’s fifth flagship fund. See accompanying chart for full accounting of MassPRIM’s commitments year-to-date.

MassPRIM documents also detail its pacing strategy for private debt and alternative fixed income funds, which count toward its fixed income allocation. The pension is already more than halfway toward the $700 million commitment pace it set for private debt and alternative fixed income funds in February. 

Specifically, the pension has earmarked $375 million for private debt funds so far this year, including a combined $225 million to a pair of Oaktree Capital Management distressed debt funds. MassPRIM committed $75 million to Oaktree’s 10th Opportunities fund, which has a $3 billion target, and $150 million to OCM Opportunities Fund Xb, which is targeting $7 billion.

Oaktree Capital plans to invest Fund X first. Should the market for distressed opportunities improve, or when Fund X is 80 percent invested, Oaktree would then activate Fund Xb, according to Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System documents. LACERS is also an LP in Fund X and Fund Xb.

In addition to its commitments to Oaktree Capital, MassPRIM also committed $150 million to CVI Credit Value Fund III, a $3 billion CarVal Investors-managed fund earmarked for corporate securities and structured credit.

MassPRIM valued its private equity portfolio at $6.7 billion as of May 31, according to state documents. The pension’s allocation stands at 10.8 percent, 80 basis points above its 10 percent target.