New York Common Commits More Than $600 Million in March Investments

The New York Common Retirement Fund committed more than $600 million in investments in March, most of which was within its absolute return and private equity portfolios. The fund also reached deals with four major U.S. companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. [Source] and [Source]

The pension fund committed $350 million within its opportunistic absolute return strategies portfolio to Apollo Excelsior PE Co-Invest LP, managed by Apollo Global Management. Apollo will look to invest additional capital in co-investment opportunities with its Apollo Investment Fund X.

New York Common also committed nearly $160 million within its private equity portfolio. Of that amount, it earmarked $50 million to the Insight XI Follow-On Fund, managed by Insight Partners. The fund will complete follow-on investments in Insight Partners XI, LP portfolio companies. It also committed $48.3 million to KSL Capital Partners CV II 3, managed by KSL Capital Partners. KSL will complete follow-on investments in a single portfolio company transferred out of KSL Capital Partners IV LP.

Another $30 million each will go to Primary Venture Partners IV and Primary Select Fund III, managed by Primary Venture Partners. The Primary Venture Partners IV fund will target tech-enabled and software-based companies based in New York City. The Primary Select Fund III will seek later-stage investments in “high conviction opportunities” from the flagship funds Primary Venture Partners Funds I through IV.

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The pension fund also committed $60 million within its emerging manager program through the Empire GCM RE Anchor Fund LP. The program aims to invest in newer, smaller and diverse investment management firms.

Up to $20 million has been set aside for the GreenPoint TVP Partnership fund managed by GreenPoint Real Estate Partners, which is a new relationship for the pension fund. The GreenPoint TVP Partnership fund seeks to acquire a nationwide network of truck storage lots. As much as $10 million was also earmarked for the GreenPoint REPE Fund I, which seeks to invest in operating companies expected to benefit from technology-driven change.

The pension fund committed up to $15 million to Redcar Properties’ Redcar Fund II LP & Sidecar Fund Redcar Austin Opportunities Fund, which will focus on acquiring underperforming properties and redeveloping them into creative office assets. Redcar Properties is also a new relationship for the pension fund. Up to $15 million will also be invested in the Grandview Fund II fund, which will pursue industrial and residential investments in the U.S. with a focus on the middle market.

Within its real estate portfolio, the NYCRF committed a little more than $50.8 million to the forward purchase of a 120-unit residential development of townhouses in a submarket of Sarasota, Florida.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli also announced that the pension fund reached deals with HVAC company Carrier Global Corp., pizza chain Papa John’s International Inc., aluminum producer Century Aluminum Co. and real estate investment trust Spirit Realty Capital Inc. to evaluate and set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

“More companies understand that reducing their carbon emissions and addressing the risks posed by climate change can help them achieve long-term success and benefit investors,” DiNapoli said in a release. “With these agreements, the companies are contributing to building a lower-carbon economy and are recognizing their responsibility to be responsive to shareholders’ concerns about the risks posed by climate change.”

Additionally, DiNapoli said The Kraft Heinz Co. agreed to establish deforestation-free sourcing policies in response to a shareholder proposal the pension fund co-filed with Green Century Capital Management.

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Tags: Carrier Global Corp., Century Aluminum, Commitments, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, merging manager program, monthly transactions, New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYCRF), NYSCRF, Papa John’s International Inc., Private Equity, Spirit Realty, Thomas P. DiNapoli

As endowments allocate more funds to venture capital investments, they are increasingly becoming complicit in human rights violations, according to a recent report from Amnesty International.

In the report, Amnesty International accused venture capital firms of neglecting to conduct adequate due diligence to make sure their investments are not helping fund human rights abuses. Citing one of its reports from 2021, Amnesty International said that among 53 of the world’s largest VC firms and start-up accelerators it surveyed, only one “potentially had human rights due diligence processes” that met United Nations standards. The report added that 44 of the firms and accelerators showed no evidence of conducting any human rights due diligence at all.

“Yet responsibility for this situation does not lie solely with venture capital firms,” the report said in a nod to major university endowments. “Large institutional investors who supply the funding that VC firms use to make their investments are also responsible.”

Amnesty International said the largest university endowments devote a “substantial share” of their portfolios to private investments, including private equity and venture capital. It cited a NACUBO-TIAA study that found that endowments larger than $1 billion hold, on average, 25.6% of their investments in private equity, including venture capital.

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Amnesty International’s report, the Limited Partner Scorecard, graded 10 of the largest university investment offices in the U.S. on their human rights due diligence processes regarding venture capital investments. According to the report, the universities—Duke, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, the University of California system, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Texas and Texas A&M system, and Yale—control more than $426 billion dollars in assets. Of those 10, seven received a failing grade.

The seven that failed Amnesty International’s scoring were Duke, MIT, Penn, Princeton, Stanford, the University of Chicago and the University of Texas and Texas A&M system. Only Harvard, the University of California system and Yale received grades of C or better.

The report assessed each university investment office against more than a dozen separate indicators that covered their commitment to things such as responsible investment; environmental, social and governance issues; human rights due diligence; stewardship of and engagement with their investments; and their commitment to disclosure and transparency.

“The fact that many of the country’s leading universities don’t care to make sure their billions in investments are upholding human rights is appalling and completely irresponsible,” Michael Kleinman, Amnesty International USA’s national director of technology and human rights, said in a release.