San Luis Obispo County to up commitment to PE

The San Luis Obispo County Pension Trust is aiming to ramp up its private equity commitments to achieve its target allocation of five percent.

The fund’s current allocation to PE stands at 0.8 percent. “We’re under target and it’s time to do something about it,” Carl Nelson, chief investment officer for the San Luis Obispo County Pension Trust, told Private Equity International.

Institutional funds advisory consultant Verus will assist with the selection of private equity funds.

“We made our first private equity commitment in 2010 to Harbourvest IX and it never quite got us up to our target allocation. That fund will call and distribute out so it’s time for the next iteration of getting up to our target, whether that’s to a fund of funds or a number of individual partnerships spread over a number of years,” he said.

The fund has committed $8.6 million to Harbourvest Partners IX Buyout Fund, according to its September investment committee meeting minutes.

According to its latest annual report, Harbourvest generated a 17.7 percent return for the pension trust manager last year.

The pension fund manages $1.2 billion of assets, primarily invested in public equities and fixed income.