PSERS Steers Over $700M Towards Alts Portfolio

About $720 million has been set aside by the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) for its credit, infrastructure, and private equity programs.

Most of the investments approved at the August meeting were in the private infrastructure asset class, which is managed by Aksia, a research and portfolio advisory firm. Blackstone Infrastructure Partners Europe (CYM) received an allocation of €200 million ($223 million). A second commitment of $100 million was made to Peppertree Capital Fund X. Peppertree Capital’s closed-ended fund aims to raise $1.5 billion.

In private credit, trustees authorized $175 million for ACORE Opportunistic Credit II. The ACORE Capital fund will originate whole loans, mezzanine loans, and preferred equity backed by domestic real estate. Monthly or quarterly loan interest payments will generate most of the returns.

Private equity investments were made in Summit Partners Growth Equity Fund XII-A and LLR Equity Partners VII. Summit Partners’ latest fund has secured $100 million to invest in profitable, high-growth firms in technology, healthcare, and life sciences, as well as growth products and services. Meanwhile, LLR Equity received a $125 million commitment for a strategy focusing on lower middle market growth firms in the technology and healthcare sectors.

It is anticipated that the net investment return for the 2023-24 fiscal year will exceed 8% when the final figures are assessed later this year. The system’s assumed rate of return is 7%.