Research

LP Scorecard: Riverside Europe is Oregon’s top IRR climber

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Riverside Europe Fund IV gained 14.7 percentage points to bring it into positive territory, with an IRR of 4.6 percent, up from -10.1 percent in 2012. Vector Capital IV, a 2007 vintage, came in second place, up 11.4 percentage points to 9.0 percent in 2013 from -2.4 percent in 2012. And the 2006 vintage JC Flowers II showed some improvement on its negative IRR, up 7.4 percentage points to -15.9 percent from -23.3 percent.

Another European buyout fund clambering out of negative territory is the 2008 vintage KKR European Fund III, which attained an IRR of 4.0 percent in 2013, up 6.3 percentage points from -2.3 percent in 2012. That fund took sixth place in this scorecard.

Also featuring in this top ten was European powerhouse CVC Capital Partners with its 2008 vintage Asian offering CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific III. That fund was up 6.2 percentage points to an IRR of 14.0 percent in 2013 from 7.8 percent in 2012.

The 1996 vintage Providence Equity Partners took the top spot for highest IRR for the period at 78.5 percent, followed by the 2001 vintage First Reserve Fund IX at 48.1 percent. This was followed closely in third place by the 2002 vintage OCM Opportunities Fund IVb with a 46.5 percent IRR.

Oregon is invested in some 204 buyout-related investment vehicles. The research for this scorecard is based on 185 of those vehicles as Oregon does not disclose IRRs from 2010 vintages onwards. Vintages in the selection range from 1981 to 2009.

Sister online news service peHUB recently reported that The Oregon Investment Council, which oversees the Oregon Public Employees’ Retirement Fund, could commit up to $2.2 billion this year to private equity, according to a person with knowledge of the system.

The state pension fund has approved $700 million for a TPG bridge fund that is targeting up to $2 billion and is an interim vehicle to the firm’s flagship Fund VII, according to peHUB.

Fund VII is expected to launch later this year or early 2015, according to documents from Oregon.