TRS Illinois commits $810m to private equity

Institution: Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois
Headquarters: Springfield, US
AUM: $64.57 billion
Allocation to private equity: 16.1%

Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois has confirmed $810 million worth of commitments across 16 private equity funds, following its August board meeting.

Within the system’s $10.4 billion private equity portfolio, a total commitment of $100 million was made to Baring Private Equity Asia Group. One commitment of $75 million was for Baring Asia Private Equity Fund VIII and a second, of of $25 million, to Baring Asia Private Equity Fund VIII – Annex A. Baring has an existing relationship with TRS, with it managing $340 million in TRS assets.

A further total commitment of $75 million was made to Lightspeed Venture Partners across three funds: $25 million to Lightspeed Venture Partners XIV, $25 million to Lightspeed Partners Select V, and $25 million to Lightspeed Global Opportunity Fund II. Lightspeed currently administers $180 million in TRS assets.

Craft Ventures and Leeds Equity Partners have both established a new investment relationship with the public pension. Two commitments of $30 million each to Craft Ventures IV and Craft Ventures Growth II, as well as a $35 million commitment to Leeds Illuminate Global Fund I, have created this new investment relationship.

More first-time relationships have been formed – $10 million was committed to MaC Venture Capital II and $50 million to New MainStream Fund IV. These new investment partnerships are through the System’s Emerging Manager Program.

The remaining commitments have standing relationships with TRS. They comprised the following: $100 million to Bregal Sagemount IV-B, $15 million to FinTech Collective Opportunity Fund I, $10 million to Insight Partners Vision Capital II, $150 million to Silver Lake Partners VII, $75 million to Sunstone Partners III and €130 million to TDR Capital V. Silver Lake currently administers the largest amount in TRS assets, at $685 million.

The $64.6 billion US-based public pension allocates 16.1 percent to private equity, above its target, which stands at 15 percent. Its recent fund commitments strategy have been predominantly focused on venture capital.

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