Texas ERS backs Baring to build PE exposure in Asia

Employees Retirement System of Texas committed $40 million to private equity and a private equity co-investment in July, according to Operational Due Diligence Analyst Rodrigo Dominguez.

The system invested $25 million to Baring Private Equity Asia’s ERS Private Equity Manager Fund III. The firm focuses on investments in Asian companies valued between $300 million to $1.5 billion, according to its website. The target size for the fund wasn’t available.

Texas ERS also committed $15 million to an undisclosed co-investment vehicle. Texas ERS does not provide “additional information” about its co-investments, Dominguez said in an email to Active LPs.

The system has been able to lower its overall private equity fees because of co-investment opportunities, Active LPs previously reported.

Texas ERS’s latest PE investments fall in line with its plan to commit $1 billion to private equity this year.

The $29 billion system’s target and actual private equity allocation sit at 13 percent, as of August 2018. The system’s five-year pacing plan could see its private equity allocation reach 14 percent if it has an average 7.5 percent return in the total portfolio, Active LPs reported last year.