Florida commits more than $770m to private equity including $200m to Lexington

The Florida State Board of Administration invested more than $770 million in private equity in the second quarter to firms including Lexington Partners, KPS and Charlesbank.

Florida SBA, which manages Florida’s $108.6 billion pension, committed $200 million to Lexington Partners VII, which is targeting $5 billion for secondaries investments and $100 million each to Energy Capital Partners II and TA Associates, which closed its eleventh growth fund in August with $4 billion.

Energy Capital Partners, founded by Goldman Sachs alumni Doug Kimmelman, Scott Helm and Thomas Lane, is targeting $3.5 billion for its second fund.

Also in the second quarter, Florida invested $75 million each in Falcon Strategic Partners III, Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund V and Charlesbank Equity Fund VII.

Falcon’s third fund focused on mezzanine investments collected $729 million and closed in June. Riverside closed its fifth buyout fund in June after collecting $1.2 billion, the mid-market firm’s biggest fund to date. Charlesbank sped through fundraising this year, collecting $1.5 billion for its seventh fund in just five months, despite the anemic fundraising environment.

Florida also invested $96 million in Gores Capital Partners III, a buyout fund targeting $1.5 billion, and $50 million in KPS Special Situations Fund III. KPS had asked existing LPs in its third fund for additional commitments to bring the fund’s total to $2 billion. The third fund closed on $1.2 billion in 2007.

Using capital from the third fund, KPS has created a brewery platform in the US called North American Breweries.

Florida has invested heavily in private equity so far in 2009, committing more than $400 million to private equity firms including GI Partners, FS Equity Partners and Hellman & Friedman in the first quarter.