Ardian and Strategic Partners receive re-ups from Tennessee

Strategic Partners‘ and Ardian‘s fundraising efforts have received a boost from Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System.

The Nashville-based pension, which has $1.75 billion of private equity assets, committed $150 million each to Strategic Partners Fund VIII and ASF VIII, a spokesman for the pension confirmed to Secondaries Investor.

This is a step up on the $100 million it committed to Strategic Partners Fund VII and $75 million committed to ASF VII, both 2015-vintage vehicles, according to PEI data. The two managers account for all of Tennessee’s secondaries exposure.

In minutes from the pension’s 28 September investment committee meeting, chief investment officer Michael Brakebill highlighted the opportunities available on the secondaries market. The investment team is evaluating the capabilities of secondaries advisors to help it buy or sell limited partnership interests in the future, he said.

Secondaries Investor revealed in May that Strategic Partners had returned to market seeking $8 billion for its latest flagship private equity fund. The vehicle will close in 2019, according to president and chief operating officer Jonathan Gray, speaking on an October conference call.

Ardian is targeting $12 billion for ASF VIII, Secondaries Investor revealed in May. The fund aims to achieve a net multiple of 1.6x and a net internal rate of return of 16 percent, according to a broadcast of an August meeting of the board of regents for the University of Houston System, an investor in the vehicle.