Commonfund Tops $500M With Natural Resources Fund Of Funds

The portfolio manager is Greg Jansen, a managing director focused on energy investments. The firm will charge its own layer of management fees and carried interest, although it declined to detail the amount of those fees.

“Most of our investors are looking for an easy way to diversify within their private equity portfolios,” said Luke. Three-quarters of Commonfund Capital’s investors are non-profit organizations.

This is Commonfund Capital’s first new natural resources fund since 2008, when Fund VIII raised $752 million.

Like its predecessors, Fund IX will invest roughly three-quarters of its assets in oil-and-gas vehicles. Geographically, about half of the money will be committed to U.S.-based funds, and the rest to overseas partnerships. The fund will contain a mix of small and large energy funds, and also some secondary interests and co-investments.

In addition, “the fund will include very small allocations to funds specializing in mining, timber and alternative energy,” said Luke

Altogether, Commonfund Capital manages $12.5 billion in private equity commitments through its funds of funds and separate accounts. Commonfund Capital is the private equity arm of Commonfund, a prominent investment adviser to non-profit organizations, including foundations and university endowments.