New York’s State Pension Commits $2B in Investments in April

The New York State Common Retirement Fund committed approximately $2 billion in investments in April, according to its monthly investment report.

Within its public equity portfolio, the pension fund committed $200 million to the BlackRock MSCI Climate Change Index strategy, which comes on top of the $800 million it committed to in January for a total commitment of $1 billion.

The pension fund also liquidated approximately $245.5 million from its termination of the FTSE Environmental Technology 50 Index, an in-house global fund within its public equity portfolio. The $245.5 million was allocated to cash.

Within its private equity portfolio, the pension fund earmarked $250 million to the Genstar Capital Partners XI fund managed by Genstar Capital Partners. The fund will seek investments in the financial services, software, industrials and healthcare sectors, primarily in the U.S. Genstar is a new relationship for the pension fund.

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The pension fund also committed $156.4 million to invest in a 350-unit residential apartment and townhome community in Concord, Massachusetts. The investment was acquired through the pension fund’s Blackrock Separate Account.

Under its credit portfolio, the pension fund is committing $350 million to LCM Partners CO IX SLP, a separately managed account primarily targeting consumer and small-medium enterprise performing, rescheduled and non-performing loans. Investments may include unsecured loans, credit cards, mortgages, asset finance and auto loans. LCM Capital is a new relationship for the pension fund.

The New York CRF is also setting aside $538 million to two funds from Blantyre Capital. It has committed $269 million (250 million euros) to the Blantyre Special Situations Fund III, a private investment vehicle targeting stressed and distressed corporate financing opportunities, non-distressed companies requiring complex capital structure solutions, and other credit-oriented special-situations investments, primarily in Europe. The other $269 million is going to the Madison Square Fund III, a fund-of-one co-investment vehicle to Blantyre Special Situations Fund III.

The fund is committing another $500 million to two funds within its real assets portfolio. It has earmarked $300 million to the Brookfield Infrastructure Fund V, a diversified portfolio of high-quality, core infrastructure assets on a value basis in geographies where Brookfield has a local operating presence, including North America, Europe, South America and the Asia Pacific region. Target sectors will include transportation, renewable power, utilities, energy and data infrastructure.

It has also allotted $200 million to the Northleaf Infrastructure Capital Partners IV LP fund from Northleaf Capital Partners, a closed-ended fund focusing on renewables/energy transition, communications, and transportation/concessions and contracted infrastructure.

The CRF is committing up to $30 million within its emerging manager program, which invests in newer, smaller and diverse investment management firms. The fund is committing up to $15 million to the Standard Real Estate Investments Industrial I fund through the Empire GCM RE Anchor Fund. The fund will invest in ground-up industrial development projects across the U.S. SREI is a new relationship for the pension fund.

Finally, $15 million was set aside for the Alpaca VC Fund III LP & Alpaca Built World Fund I, which will invest in seed and early-stage investments to both physical real estate and real estate operating businesses. Alpaca VC is a new relationship for CRF.