The Ventura County Employees’ Retirement Association (VCERA) approved two commitments to private markets totalling $80M, according to board materials from its September 9 meeting.
In private credit, VCERA committed $50M to Arbour Lane Credit Opportunity Fund IV, while in private infrastructure it committed $30M to HarbourVest Infrastructure Opportunities Fund III. General consultant NEPC assisted with the manager selections.
VCERA also reported placing Western Asset Management (Wamco) on its investment manager watch list. Bloomberg reported on September 6 that investors have pulled $4.9B from two of Wamco’s flagship mutual funds since the firm disclosed that veteran trader and co-CIO Ken Leech is under federal investigation. According to Bloomberg, the SEC and US Department of Justice are investigating whether Wamco “cherry-picked lucrative trades for favored clients at the expense of others who received less-profitable trades.”
According to Dakota data, VCERA oversees approximately $8.2B in assets. As of June 30, the fund allocated approximately 7.7% to private credit against a policy target of 8% and approximately 5.4% to real assets against a target of 6%.
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