PSERS Pledges $80M To Three Funds

The $33 billion Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System, finding itself 3 percentage points above its target allocation, has re-upped with three general partners. However, it slightly scaled back the level of its commitments.

The pension fund is committing up to $50 million to First Reserve Fund XII LP; up to $20 million to Morgenthaler Venture Partners IX LP; and up to $10 million to Brynwood Partners VI LP. For comparison, Pennsylvania SERS committed $60 million to First Reserve XI LP; $35 million to Morgenthaler Venture Partners VIII LP, and $10 million to Brynwood Partners’s fifth fund. The latest allocations come with Pennsylvania SERS’s private equity allocation standing at 17.1 percent, ahead of its 14 percent target allocation

First Reserve Corp., Greenwich, Conn., seeks $12 billion for Fund XII, with a hard cap of $16 billion; with it the firm plans on investing $200 million to $1.5 billion to acquire stakes in a global portfolio of companies in several energy industry sectors. About half of the investments are to be existing and to-be-developed energy manufacturing and services companies; the rest will be in energy and natural resources reserves; renewables and alternative energy; and energy-related insurance and financial investments.

Morgenthaler Venture Partners seeks $400 million for its ninth fund to acquire life science and information technology companies. By August it had gathered $374 million in commitments from 51 backers.

Brynwood Partners focuses on consumer products, light manufacturing in low-capital-intensive industries, service businesses and specialty retail companies. The Greenwich, Conn.-based firm makes control investments in lower-middle-market companies and acquires companies with enterprise values between $15 million and $125 million. Brynwood Partners is raising up to $400 million for Fund VI. The firm reached its $250 million target for Brynwood Partners V LP in 2005.