Fort Worth To Commit $30M Per Year to PE

The $1.6 billion Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund plans to commit about $30 million a year to private equity funds, building on $64 million in commitments to date, said Ruth Ryerson, executive director/CIO.

Expect the pension fund to back a mixture of new and existing managers, although the funds the city will invest with have yet to be determined, said Ryerson. The city currently has relationships with Aldus Equity, an advisor that manages $12 million for the limited partner; and Credit Suisse, which oversees $19 million; it has also made commitments to Montagu Private Equity’s Montagu IV-A, a European buyout fund that invests in the manufacturing, health care, transportation, pharmaceuticals and auto-components industries; Montagu Newhall Associates, a venture capital fund-of-funds manager; and Ashmore Investment Management’s Global Special Situations Fund 3, which is concentrated on distressed emerging market companies in China, India, Russia and Brazil.

Fort Worth has an allocation range to private equity of 2 percent to 10.5 percent. The LP’s long-term target is still 7.5 percent but it has also set a 4 percent short-term target that it expects to achieve within the next year or two. As of Sept. 30, 2008, the investor had an actual private equity allocation of about 3 percent.