LP Scorecard: Platinum Equity climbs most for PSERS

PSERS is currently on the lookout for a new chief investment officer, so whoever is applying might be interested to see how the state pension fund’s current private equity portfolio is performing.

PSERS is invested in some 206 private equity and venture capital related funds ranging in vintage from 1985 to date. Of the funds selected for this scorecard, 28 are private debt funds and 122 are defined as private equity.

In joint second place leaping 40 percentage points for the period is the 2011 vintage Baring Asia Private Equity Fund V, attaining a positive IRR of 6.75 percent from -33.3 percent in 2012.

Also up 40 percentage points is another 2011 vintage Asia-focused fund, Orchid Asia V, which achieved a higher IRR than Baring Asia Private Equity Fund V, reaching 17.98 percent in 2013 from -22.0 percent in 2012.

The 2008 CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific III is another Asia fund creeping up for PSERS, climbing 6.2 percentage points in eighth place to a 13.95 percent IRR for the period.

There are also three European focused buyout houses in this top ten. The 2011 vintage Cinven Fund (Fifth), which takes seventh place, and the 2008 vintage Bridgepoint Europe IV and Nordic Capital VII Beta, in ninth and tenth places respectively.

Those buyout funds whose IRR fell for the period, according to PSERS, include the 2011 vintage Milestone Partners IV, which was down 17.2 percentage points to an IRR of 12.24 percent in 2013 from 29.5 percent in 2012. The 2008 vintage Evergreen Pacific Partners II fell 8.2 percentage points for the period to an IRR of 24.34 percent from 32.6 percent. Joint third from the bottom was the KKR 2006 Fund, which fell 6.4 percentage points to an IRR of 7.3 percent from 13.7 percent. Also falling that much was the 2005 vintage Versa Capital Fund I, registering a 12.06 IRR for the period from 18.4 percent the previous year.

The top performer by IRR for the state pension fund as of Dec. 31, 2013 is another offering from Platinum Equity—the 2004 vintage Platinum Equity Capital Partners-A, which posted an IRR of 60.44 percent and 2.79x multiple. In second place comes the 2005 vintage Baring Asia Private Equity Fund III with an IRR of 55.08 percent and multiple of 2.55x. Another Asian fund is in third place—the younger 2011 vintage Orchid Asia V, posting an IRR of 54.68 percent and multiple of 1.69x to date.

Earlier this year, Buyouts reported PSERS removed documents for about 150 alternative investments from a website accessible to the public, in order to comply with confidentiality requests from managers.

Among the buyout-related funds included in the dataset that PSERS did not publish performance information for were ABS Capital Partners II, Actis Global 4, Allegheny New Mountain Partners, Bridgepoint Capital II (Secondary), Bridgepoint Europe I, Clarity PSERS II, Edgewater Growth Capital Partners, Evergreen Pacific Partners, Furman Selz Investors III, Halifax Capital Partners, Incline Equity Partners III, KRG Capital Fund II (PA), Landmark Equity Partners III, Landmark Equity Partners IV, Landmark Mezzanine Partners, Lexington Capital Partners I, New Mountain Partners, PAI Europe III, Palladium Equity Partners II-A, PNC Equity Partners, Quadrangle Capital Partners, Trilantic Capital Partners V (North America), Wicks Communications and Media Partners and Windjammer Senior Equity Fund IV.