Washington eyes commitments to Insight, Madison Dearborn funds

Washington State Investment Board’s private markets committee recommended $450 million in private equity commitments ahead of the full board’s meeting next week.

The recommendations were:

• $200 million to Insight Partners XI, a private equity fund managed by Insight Partners with a $7.25 billion target, as reported by sister publication Private Equity International;

• $250 million to Madison Dearborn Capital Partners VIII, managed by Madison Dearborn Partners with a $4.5 billion target, as Buyouts reported. Fund VIII will invest in middle and upper-middle market companies and continue Fund VII’s strategy, wherein 70 percent of deployed capital went to buyouts and 30 percent to growth equity.

As of June 30, Washington’s private equity portfolio was valued at $23.2 billion across all of its funds and made up 19.62 percent of its portfolio. The overall value of its funds was $139.56 billion.

As of June 30, private equity performance was strong. One-year private equity returns were 12.26 percent against a 5.2 percent benchmark, three-year returns were 15.23 percent against a 13.92 percent benchmark, five-year returns were 12.24 percent against a 9.66 percent benchmark, and twenty-year returns were 11.4 percent against a 7.51 percent benchmark.

The ten-year returns missed their benchmark, however, coming in at 14.69 percent against a 15.6 percent benchmark.

The full investment board will meet Thursday, Nov. 21 to give the commitments their final approval.

Action Item: read Washington’s most recent financial performance report here.