PennSERS commits $100m to Asia Alternatives

The pension system said in a statement that the funds will focus on primary, secondary and direct co-investments across Asia – primarily in the growth and buyout space – with the separate account, Penn Asian Investors, making follow-on investments. According to filings dated July 13, the co-mingled vehicle, Asia Alternatives Capital Partners V, had received commitments totaling just over $1 billion.

Last month, Minnesota State Board of Investment allocated $100 million to the fund-of-funds product. The University of Vermont endowment has committed $5 million to the same vehicle.

Asia Alternatives closed its fourth fund-of-funds in April 2015 at $1 billion, raising $800 million for separately managed accounts at the same time. PennSERS backed the three funds before that, although its $50 million investment in Fund III – which closed at $908 million in 2012, with $600 million more in separate accounts – was followed by the establishment of Penn Asian Investors. Following an initial commitment of $50 million, the vehicle had $83 million in capital as of December 2015.

PennSERS had $26.3 billion in assets at the end of 2016. Its most recently published annual report covers 2015, at which point the pension system had $4.68 billion invested in alternatives: $2.69 billion in private equity, $1.24 billion in venture capital, and $751 million in special situations.  

PennSERS committed $50 million to Primavera’s second China fund, which closed at $1.93 billion towards the end of last year. ADV Partners also received $50 million for its debut Asia special situations fund in 2015, while Lightspeed Partners got $15 million for its first dedicated India fund.

The pension system’s other direct GP relationships in Asia include H&Q's Asia Pacific Growth Fund III, Avenue Asia Special Situations Fund IV, Bain Capital Asia Fund, Baring India Private Equity Fund III, CID Greater China Venture Capital Fund II, Excelsior Capital Asia Partners III, Hahn & Company II, and TPG Capital’s third, fourth and fifth Asia funds.

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• Fund-of-funds
• LPs
• North America
• Asia
• Asia Alternatives Management
• Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System (PennSERS)