North Carolina Apparently Completes $520M Secondary Market

There isn’t much public information to be had, but it appears North Carolina completed the sale of a $520 million portfolio of large buyout funds.

Data provider Preqin reports the state’s public pension fund first brought the portfolio to market in February and since then has secured an undisclosed buyer. The money manager’s aim is to reduce its commitments and exposure to underperforming funds.

The portfolio is made up of seven funds, with ones managed by Apollo Global Management, TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus, Preqin says. Cogent Partners brokered the transaction.

In an unrelated announcement earlier this week, North Carolina State Treasurer Janet Cowell said the $74.9 billion pension fund returned 18.48 percent for the June 30 fiscal year.

Within its portfolio, stocks advanced 30.7 percent, real estate holdings rebounded 18.16 percent and alternative investments, including private equity, rose 14.2 percent.

North Carolina’s secondary sale reflects a trend underway at large public pension funds to reduce relationships and cut costs. The New Jersey State Investment Council apparently hired Cogent to manage the sale of mega buyout and growth funds, Preqin said. And the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest public pension fund, is said to have sold about $800 million of holdings in large buyout funds this year to AlpInvest Partners, Preqin said.

(Mark Boslet is a senior editor of sister magazine Venture Capital Journal)