Firms & Funds

Maine PERS pledges $165 mln in PE commitments

-
Maine Public Employees Retirement System, MainePERS, pension fund, private equity, Carlyle Group
People make their way along a breakwater leading to Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, completed in 1897, as the sun sets on New Year's Day, in South Portland, Maine, on Jan. 1, 2016. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

Maine Public Employees Retirement System committed $165 million to private equity and private credit funds at its June meeting, according to Chief Investment Officer Andrew Sawyer.

The system committed up to $50 million to Solar Capital Partners’ Private Corporate Lending Fund and $50 million to SCP Cayman SF Debt Master Fund. Solar Capital Partners is a private credit manager that focuses on the U.S. middle market. Target size was unavailable.

Maine PERS pledged $45 million to H.I.G. Middle Market LBO Fund III. Target size for the pool’s third fund wasn’t available. H.I.G. LBO Fund II, which focused on private equity investments in middle market companies in the U.S., closed in 2014 at a $1.75 billion cap, according to its website.

The board also approved a $20 million commitments to Riverside Micro-Cap Fund IV B. The Riverside Company’s Micro-Cap Fund IV (RMCF-IV) at a hard cap with $650 million in 2016.

Private equity makes up 14.5 percent of the $14.4 billion fund, which is slightly below its target of 15 percent.