Virginia Retirement Commits $500M to Real Estate, PE

The Virginia Retirement System (VRS), which manages $115 billion in assets, made two allocations to its private markets portfolios in the last month totaling $500 million. The moves follow the real asset and private equity allocations over the summer, which totaled $1.6 billion.

In the $19 billion private equity portfolio, officials committed $300 million to Stone Point Capital’s Trident X. The buyout fund managed by Sound Point Capital Management is focused on the global financial services industry and has recently seen commitments from MassPRIM and the Washington State Investment Board amounting to a combined $475 million.

In reporting its 9.9% fiscal year 2024 gains last month, officials pointed out a gain of 5.8% for private equity strategies. VRS CIO Andrew Junkin, commenting on the overall fund hitting an all-time high, said, “A highly diversified portfolio is central to our strategy. Through active management, our investment team has added approximately $7.2 billion to the portfolio over the past decade. That’s especially important because investment earnings fund about two-thirds of benefit payments to VRS retirees and beneficiaries.”

Real assets were a drag on gains, however, logging returns of -3.2%. The $14 billion portfolio added a real estate strategy in the second half of August. Officials approved a $200 million commitment to MV Real Estate SMA I. The closed end, separately managed account is managed by Meadow Partners and is focused on core real estate in select global gateway cities.