Florida SBA spends $350m on secondaries

The US pension is a major backer for some of the largest secondaries funds being raised.

The Florida State Board of Administration committed $350 million to two private equity secondaries funds during the first quarter of 2014, a Florida SBA spokesperson confirmed.

Florida’s largest of commitment of $200 million went to secondaries firm Lexington Partners’ Fund VIII, which launched earlier this year with an $8 billion target, according to PEI data.

Fund VIII had reportedly collected $2.5 billion as of January and was expected to collect $5 billion by the end of February. Limited partners in the fund include the Minnesota State Board of Investment and the City of Tallahassee Pension Fund, according to PEI data.

Florida also committed $150 million to Ardian’s Secondary Fund VI.

Florida has a 6 percent target allocation to private equity and an actual allocation of just below 5 percent, according a separate email from the Florida spokesperson. The system has $144 billion of assets under management.