New York State Pension Cashes Out of $1.9 Billion Public Equity Fund

The New York Common Retirement Fund has terminated a public equity fund valued at $1.9 billion, while also making $1.6 billion in investment commitments through multiple portfolios in March, according to the $260 billion pension giant’s most recent monthly transaction report.

Within its public equity portfolio, the pension fund terminated a global fund managed by Generation Investment Management that had an account value of approximately $1.9 billion. The proceeds were allocated to cash.

Also within its public equity portfolio, the pension fund committed $500 million to the ARGA Emerging Markets fund managed by ARGA Investment Management, which aims to invest in emerging market opportunities.

The pension fund earmarked another $500 million within its credit portfolio to the Intermediate Capital Group-managed ICG Excelsior SCSp fund, a fund-of-one, which is an investment structure created for only one investor. The commitment is for a secondary markets strategy focused on U.S. and European buyouts, and may also be used for co-investments and existing strategies within the fund.

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Within its real estate portfolio, the NYCRF committed $300 million to the Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe VII SCSp fund managed by the Blackstone Group. The special limited partnership fund, which is the latest in the series of Blackstone’s European real estate funds, aims to build a diversified portfolio of real estate and related assets.

The pension fund also invested within its real estate portfolio approximately $1.5 million for the gut rehabilitation of a mixed-use building in Poughkeepsie, New York. The building will house nine residential units and contain approximately 600 square feet of commercial retail space.

In its real assets portfolio, the pension fund committed another $200 million to the ITE Rail fund managed by ITE Management. The investment is in an open-ended fund focusing on asset leasing within the rail transportation sector.

The pension fund also set aside $100 million within its opportunistic absolute return strategies portfolio for B Capital Group Management’s B Capital Ascent Fund III. The fund makes early/seed-stage venture capital investments focused on business-to-business technology-enabled emerging companies in the U.S., Israel, and Asia.

And within its emerging manager program, which invests in newer, smaller, and diverse

investment management firms, the pension fund allotted up to $15 million to the Liftbridge Commercial Fund 3. The closed-end, commingled investment vehicle sponsored by Stillwater Asset Management will make investments in commercial real estate loans.