March 2024 Public Plan Commitment Summary

Staying up to date and understanding public pension fund insights is critical for gaining investment industry knowledge and understanding fundraising trends. The insights in this article reveal current investment strategies and market impacts, providing a comprehensive view of large fund allocations and their influence on asset prices. They enable organizations to benchmark their performance against top public pension funds, facilitating better decision-making.

In the month of March, Dakota tracked a total of approximately $18.5 billion across 148 investments. 48 individual pension funds or entities reported commitments during the month.

In this article we are going over the top allocators, allocations, and terminations made in the month of March. By the end of this, you'll have a better understanding of the Public Pension commitments made in the month of March.

The top allocators during the month were:

• CalPERS disclosed $8 billion in commitments
• New Mexico State Investment Council disclosed 14 investments totaling $1.4 billion
• State of Wisconsin Investment Board allocates $1 billion

Asset Classes:

$8.6 billion moved to Private Equity across 73 investments which accounts for approximately 47% of commitments. Private Credit saw $3.7 billion in commitments, 20% of total commitments across 19 investments. Real Assets took in 16% of commitments with $2.9 billion flowing into the asset class between 15 investments. In Real Estate we tracked $2.5 billion across 26 investments,14% of commitments. 15 investments totaling over $700 million were allocated to Venture Capital funds.

Sub-Asset Classes:

Stemming from the private equity asset class, Buyouts made up about 27% of commitments, this includes $5 billion across 43 lower middle market, middle market, and large buyout funds. Within Real Assets, over $2.5 billion was placed across 12 Infrastructure investments making up 14% of commitments. In private credit, Direct Lending accounted for $2.3 billion across 7 investments, 13% of the total for March. Also of note, $1.7 billion was committed to 18 Growth Equity strategies, and $1 billion was allocated to 12 Opportunistic Real Estate funds.

Looking at the top allocations in March:

• CalPERS - Committed in 2023, disclosed in March 2024
  • $1.3B to Ares Senior Direct Lending Fund III
  • $850M to Global Infrastructure Partners V
  • $700M to Ares European Credit Investments VII
• LACERA committed  $400M to Clearlake Capital Partners VIII
• NY State Common Retirement committed $275M to DigitalBridge III 
• Maryland State Retirement committed $250M to Whitehorse Liquidity Partners VI

Terminations reported in March:

• NY Common Retirement Fund  terminated Wellington Asia ex-Japan Contrarian Fund ($243M)

• University of Alabama System Endowment terminated three managers
  • RCH Energy MLP Fund
  • Seaport Global Property Securities Fund
  • Tybourne Long Opportunities

• San Francisco ERS terminated Advent Capital

• Maine PERS terminated Blue Owl Capital Corporation III

• Kern County ERA terminated Sculptor Domestic Partners II

• Lexington Policemens’ and Firefighters’ approved a full redemption of the JP Morgan Strategic Property Fund.

• Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Retirement terminated the Morgan Stanley International Equity account
• Kansas PPA terminated the Lord Abbett Short Duration Credit Portfolio

• Oklahoma Municipal Retirement terminated the JP Morgan Strategic Property Fund and the JP Morgan Special Situations Property Fund
• Jacksonville Retirement System terminated the UBS Trumbull Property Fund

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