LA Fire Postpones Pledges To Hire PE Consultant

The Los Angeles Fire & Police Pensions is considering pledges totaling $50 million to two mid-market buyout funds, but those general partners will have to wait for a verdict since the limited partner will not vote on the commitments until it hires a private equity consultant, General Manager Michael Perez told Buyouts.

The pension fund’s staff plans to bring a recommendation for a private equity consultant to the board in early March. The contenders are Cliffwater, Credit Suisse First Boston, Ennis Knupp, Hamilton Lane, Macquarie Funds Management, New England Pension Consulting, Portfolio Advisors, StepStone Group and Wilshire Associates.

One of the pledges being considered is a $25 million slug to Houston-based Sterling Group LP’s Sterling Group Partners III LP, earmarked for investments in underperforming North American manufacturing, converting, assembly, industrial services and distribution businesses in a variety of industries. The firm recently closed the fund at its $800 million hard cap, and it’s not clear whether the pension fund would be included.

L.A. Fire & Police is also contemplating a $25 million slug to Stone Point Capital’s Trident V, a $2.25 billion-targeted buyout fund earmarked for investments in financial services businesses in the United States, the United Kingdom, Western Europe and Bermuda.

The limited partner recently hired R.V. Kuhns and Associates as its new general consultant. Along with incumbent Pension Consulting Alliance, the other candidates were Callan Associates, Mercer, New England Pension Consultants and Wilshire Associates.

The $12.7 billion Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions has a 10.0 percent target allocation to private equity and a 5.7 percent actual allocation to the asset class, as of January. Almost half of the LP’s private equity portfolio is in buyout funds, 40 percent is in special situations and the rest is in venture capital vehicles.