LP Scorecard: Blackstone, Nautic top distributors to Big Apple pension in 2015

Over the course of 2015, New York City Employees’ Retirement System’s private equity portfolio realized $855.9 million in distributions. The windfall for the Big Apple’s largest pension was led by Blackstone Group and Nautic Partners.

Blackstone Capital Partners V returned $40.6 million last year, leading the pack of firms distributing to the pension.

Nautic Partners VI finished second in total distributions, while leading in distribution percentage (cash out divided by cash in). The 2007-vintage returned $34.6 million and 103.7 percent of its contributed capital, while being the only firm to have a fund appear on both lists.

Following in third place by absolute distributions, Vista Equity Partners’ fourth primary vehicle returned $33.6 million.

Taking second place in distribution percentage was NYCERS Emerging Manager Fund, a program run by GCM Grosvenor, a Chicago-based firm that specializes in developing custom portfolios for clients. Grosvenor’s emerging manager vehicle produced a distribution of 86.1 percent.

Coming third in percentage was Apollo Global Management’s Investment Fund VII. The 2008-vintage generated an 84.6 distribution percentage and the highest IRR of either top-five list, at 24.8 percent.

All told, NYCERS’s PE portfolio has about $8.1 billion committed across 150 active funds. Those active funds have combined to draw down more than $6.1 billion and returned nearly $4.7 billion in cash out as of December 31, 2015.

Action Item: Download LP Scorecard table as a spreadsheet: http://bit.ly/2dAniM2