Colorado Pension Invests in Permira

The Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association (CoPERA) ended a 10-month long dry spell this month with a $35 million commitment to Permira Europe II.

Permira Europe is a $5.9 billion pan-European buyout fund that will invest up to $580 million in companies in business services, chemicals, consumer products, industrial products and technology sectors.

Not only is this the pension fund’s first private equity investment this year, it is also CoPERA’s first commitment made since announcing in May that it would reduce its exposure to the asset class by $800 million.

Since announcing it would reduce its alternative investment allocation, CoPERA has begun liquidating its portfolio. However, during that same period the actual value of the portfolio swelled by $100 million to $2.7 billion, says Katie Kaufmanis, a spokeswoman for the fund.

The asset allocation plan adopted in May also calls for the pension fund to reduce its exposure to real estate and domestic equities while increasing the size of its fixed income portfolio.

CoPERA is a diversified private equity investor, which manages more than $23 billion in assets.

CoPERA has commitments to funds managed by Columbia Capital, Enterprise Partners, Forstmann Little & Co., HarbourVest Partners and Walden International.

CoPERA provides retirement benefits to employees of 380 government agencies and public entities in the state of Colorado. It is the nation’s 23rd largest public pension plan.

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