Florida pledges $700m to private equity including $100m to AXA secondaries fund

Florida’s state pension system has committed $700 million to private equity managers in recent months, pledging to Warburg Pincus, RCP Advisors, AXA Private Equity and Ares Management.

Florida’s State Board of Administration, which oversees $122.5 billion in state pension fund assets, approved the commitments over the past few months.

The system committed $200 million to Warburg Pincus’ eleventh fund, which is targeting $12 billion and had already collected about $5.1 billion as of May; $100 million to AXA Private Equity’s fifth secondaries fund, which closed recently on $7.1 billion, plus a $900 million sidecar primary fund of funds vehicle. The system also pledged $50 million to RCP Advisors’ eighth fund of funds, targeting $250 million, $150 million to Crescent Mezzanine Partners and $200 million to Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund IV, which has collected $3.2 billion on its way to a $4 billion target.

Florida has been on a commitment tear recently as it works to deploy $6 billion to alternative investments over the next three years. Earlier this year the system committed $800 million to various private equity and real estate managers, including Leonard Green & Company, Platinum Equity, Thoma Bravo and The Blackstone Group.

The system this year replaced its long-time head of private equity, Jim Treanor, with two people: Trent Webster, senior investment officer – strategic investments and private equity, and John Bradley, director of private equity.