CalPERS Targets PEU Big Three

Pensions & Investments reported:

CalPERS' investment committee has cleared the way for the pension fund's private equity staff to make more investments with its three largest private equity partners, Apollo Global Management, Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group, allowing billions of dollars more to go to the private equity giants.

The committee approved raising the limit on the amount of committed capital that can go to any one private equity firm to 15% from 10% of the pension fund's $31.4 billion private equity portfolio.

CalPERS invested in 7 Blackstone funds, 10 Apollo funds and 27 Carlyle funds.  Storied PEU's will garner more of CalPERS private equity investments.

While the disclosure does not name the managers, CalPERS statistics show that as of March 31, Blackstone was near the 10% cap with more than $2.5 billion in investments; Carlyle, with more than $3.5 billion, and Apollo, with more than $4.5 billion, exceeded 10%.

The move enables CalPERS to put another $2 billion in Blackstone and $1 billion in Carlyle, in which CalPERS once held an equity stake.   Ring the bell on Pennsylvania Avenue!