Ardian and Coller rake in $400m from US pension

Ardian and Coller Capital have received almost half a billion dollars in commitments to their latest secondaries funds from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), the world’s largest educator-only pension fund.

CalSTRS committed $250 million to ASF VII B, the first time the pension has invested in Ardian’s funds, according to the pension system’s most recent quarterly activity report. The parallel vehicle to Ardian’s ASF VII fund is targeting $6.5 billion and will focus on acquiring traditional secondaries portfolios larger than $500 million, according to the report.

Paris-headquartered Ardian is seeking $9 billion for ASF VII, its seventh dedicated secondaries fund, which launched in May last year, as reported by sister publication Private Equity International. Investors in the fund so far include Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS), Ohio PERS and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, according to PEI Research & Analytics.

CalSTRS also committed $150 million to Coller International Partners VII (CIP VII), the report shows. London-based Coller held a final close for CIP VII, which will focus on traditional and direct secondaries, on $7.2 billion on 31 December, beating its $6.5 billion hard-cap, as Secondaries Investor previously reported.

CalSTRS manages about $179 billion on behalf of 879,329 members, according to its website.