Firms & Funds

Fund performance: Gains from NEA, Meritech and OrbiMed help drive CalPERS’ Sacramento portfolio

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Businessman with briefcase full of money
Businessman with a briefcase full of money on gray background. Photo ©iStock/Staras

Big gains from New Enterprise Associates, Meritech Capital Partners, OrbiMed Advisors and Column Group are driving the performance of CalPERS’ Sacramento Private Equity Partners venture portfolio.

Funds from the four partnerships are among the portfolio’s top five performing venture funds. Each advanced nicely in the nine months ended in June, according to a recent portfolio report from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

More modest gains were turned in by the top venture fund in the portfolio — Emergence Capital Partners II — and by funds from Institutional Venture Partners and Third Rock Ventures, according to the report. The portfolio is managed by Oak Hill Investment Managers.

The Sacramento portfolio has 15 venture funds with vintages of 2007 to 2011. Performance has been good. Eleven of the funds sported positive IRRs as of June 2013 and four had negative ones.

Improvement has been steady over the past couple of years. From September 2012 to June 2013, 13 funds advanced while two saw their performance decline.

The best of the bunch is the 2007 Emergence Capital Partners II, with an IRR of 36%. Its IRR rose from 33.3% in September 2012.

Bigger gains came from New Enterprise Associates 13, Meritech Capital Partners IV, OrbiMed Private Investments IV and The Column Group. NEA 13, a 2009 vintage fund, claimed the portfolio’s No. 2 spot with an IRR of 23.1%, up from 15.4% nine months earlier.

The 2011 vintage Meritech Capital Partners IV improved to an IRR of 19.2%, rising from 9.4% over the same period, and OrbiMed Private Investments IV, from the 2010 vintage, posted an 18% IRR.

The Column Group from 2007 saw its IRR advance to 13.2% from 1.9% in September 2012, the report showed.

At the bottom of the portfolio are Tallwood III Annex from 2008 with an IRR of -18.7% and TauTona Partners from 2010 with an IRR of -13.1%. Both funds showed improvement.

The accompanying table lists the 15 funds with their commitment levels, distributions and IRRs from June 2013, September 2012 and September 2011.