Florida allocates $2bn to alts in Q4 2020

The Florida State Board of Administration, which oversees the state retirement system’s $168 billion portfolio, allocated through 13 managers a total of $2.1 billion across a wide alternative investment spectrum in the final quarter of 2020.

At the investment advisory council’s December meeting officials reviewed also the strategic investments asset class, which includes a number of strategies including hedge funds, debt strategies, real estate debt and timber, and managed futures. Essentially the asset class is a repository for strategies that don’t easily fit in other segments of the investment portfolio and is viewed as a place where potential new asset classes can be incubated.

The $15 billion strategic investments asset class had its busiest year ever in 2020, closing on 27 funds with a total of $5.5 billion in commitments. Another nine funds totaling $1.3 billion in new commitments were in the pipeline at year end.

The retirement system recently detailed allocations across infrastructure, mezzanine debt, distressed debt and activist equity strategies from the fourth quarter. Strategic investments made up $1.5 billion of new investment activity with seven funds selected.  Cambridge Associates assisted Florida in selecting the strategies and funds.

Added to the strategic investments portfolio were: Actis Energy 5 ($150 million); Blantyre Capital’s Blantyre Special Situations Fund II ($200 million); Carlyle Aviation Fund Management’s Carlyle Aviation Leasing Fund ($200 million); CenterBridge Capital Partners IV ($300 million); Cerberus Capital Management’s Cerberus Corporate Credit SBA ($300 million); Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors Pte’s fund of one focused on loans ($200 million); and Alantra EQMC Asset Management’s EQMC Europe Development Capital Fund ($200 million).

Within private equity, seven funds were also added during the quarter under Cambridge Associates’ guidance. They were: Arbor Investments’ Arbor Debt Opportunity II ($15 million); Arbor investments’ Arbor V ($75 million); Charlesbank Capital Partners’ Charlesbank Overage X ($10 million); Charlesbank Capital Partners’ Charlesbank X ($115 million); Nippon Investment Company’s NIC Fund II ($35 million); SVB Capital’s SVB Capital Partners V ($30 million) and Waterland’s Waterland PEF VIII ($150 million).

Lastly, trustees with assistance from Townsend Group, chose Starwood Capital Group’s Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund XII to handle a $150 million closed-end opportunistic global mandate in the real estate portfolio.