Firms & Funds

PA PSERS backs Summit’s latest fund, expects it to be oversubscribed

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Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System, pension funds, private equity, PA SERS
A view of the Pennsylvania State House from the State Street Bridge in Harrisburg on Jan. 18, 2012. Reuters/Tim Shaffer
  • Assets under management: $56 bln
  • Private markets allocation: 14.2 pct
  • Whom to contact: Evelyn Tatkovski Williams (evwilliams@pa.gov)
  • Why this is important: PA PSERS makes big bets on growth funds

 

Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System at its Jan. 17 meeting re-upped $150 million to Summit Partners’s 10th growth equity fund targeting $4 billion. The pension system expected the latest fund to close between $4.5 billion and $5 billion, documents said.

To date, PA PSERS has committed a total of $425 million to Summit Partners, including $275 million to its prior four equity funds and one private credit fund.

Summit’s ninth fund closed at $3.3 billion in 2017.

Summit’s 10th fund will target between $75 million and $300 million in 25 to 35 investments, documents said.

Summit Partners invests in technology, healthcare and life-sciences companies in North America. The company also invests in growth products and services including business services, financial services, consumer, industrial technology and other growth industries.

Summit had invested in more than 475 companies in technology, healthcare and life sciences and other growth industries since inception in 1984.

More than 140 portfolio companies completed public equity offerings and more than 190 had been acquired by strategic or financial buyers, documents said.

The Summit senior leadership includes Peter Chung, managing director and chief executive officer; Scott Collins, managing director and chief operations officer; and managing partners Darren Black, John Carroll, Christopher Dean, Leonard Ferrington, Craig Frances, Matthew Hamilton, Jay Pauley, Peter Rottier and principals Peter Francis and Ross Stern.

The company invested in Advance Medical, Elatec, MercuryGate International, OnRobot, onX, Sound Physicians, Syncron and TeachingStrategies in 2018.

Summit’s ninth fund produced an internal rate of return of 50.76 percent, its eighth fund produced an IRR of 24.78 percent, its fourth fund produced an IRR of 33.61 percent and its third fund produced an IRR of 18.38 percent, as of June 30, 2018, documents said.

Action Item: Read more on PA PSERS’s investments: https://bit.ly/2LmcEqB