Louisiana Teachers Adds $225M in Credit Funds

The Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana has added two new funds to its credit portfolio, as the pension system plans to invest between $2.6 billion and $3.6 billion in various alternatives in fiscal year 2024.

At the end of January, multi-asset credit strategies accounted for slightly more than $1 billion of the $25 billion pension fund’s portfolio, with target allocations of 9% and 3% for distressed debt/mezzanine investments and direct lending, respectively. Only 0.2% has been earmarked for direct lending to date.

Comvest Credit Partners VII has been chosen to manage up to $100 million, while Castlelake Asset-Based Private Credit III will be in charge of up to $125 million.

Comvest Partners plans to raise up to $2.5 billion for its latest fund, which will focus on first lien private loan opportunities among North American middle market companies. In December, the fund received a commitment from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.

Castlelake’s strategy is a standard asset-backed finance offering, and the Louisiana pension recently committed to its Castlelake Aviation V Stable Yield fund, which is part of the infrastructure portfolio. Castlelake wants to deploy around 45% of the present private credit fund to specialty finance and real assets, with the remainder dedicated to opportunistic aviation investments. Castlelake Asset-Based Private Credit III seeks to raise $1.5 billion.