The State Board of Administration of Florida has sold a legacy private equity portfolio that was valued at approximately $350 million, Florida communications manager John Kuczwanski told Secondaries Investor.
The portfolio was sold to Goldman Sachs Asset Management and the transaction was advised by Park Hill Group, Kuczwanski added.
Both firms were unavailable to comment by press time.
The legacy private equity portfolio had been a drag on private equity performance, which was otherwise “outstanding”, Florida chief investment officer Ash Williams said at the December board meeting, according to minutes that were approved at this week’s meeting.
The legacy portfolio was generating a net internal rate of return of 3.7 percent since inception and -21.5 percent over the past three years, as of 30 September 2014. Meanwhile, the entire private equity portfolio had been generating an 8.6 percent IRR since inception and a 15.1 percent IRR during the past three years.
“Glad to get that one cleaned up and off the books. It’s been a process we’ve been working through for a couple of years,” Williams previously said.
The funds in the legacy portfolio aren’t known; however it is understood one legacy fund was excluded from the sale. The fund had two remaining portfolio companies that were in the process of being sold, as of the December meeting.
“We’re slowly liquidating the underlying portfolio companies within that fund, and we sort of just finished that up last Friday,” deputy executive director Lamar Taylor said at the 8 December meeting.
Last year Florida also sold a portfolio of European fund stakes to Partners Group. The funds included: CCP Fund IX and Carlyle Europe Partners III, PAI Europe V, 3i Eurofund V and 3i Growth Capital Fund.
Partners Group declined to comment.
Florida decided to sell off the European fund stakes because of strong pricing and a desire to rebalance and refocus its European private equity portfolio. The pension is reducing its exposure to large pan-European general partners and increasing its focus on smaller, regional funds in Europe.
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