Florida seals third sale in two weeks

The State Board of Administration of Florida has sold its stakes in Carlyle Europe Partners III and CCP Fund IX, according to UK regulatory filings. The transactions mark Florida’s third secondary sale in two weeks.

Carlyle Europe Partners III is a 2006-vintage fund that closed on €5.4 billion, according to the firm’s website. Other limited partners in the fund include the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Unigestion and the National Pension Service of Korea, according to PEI’s Research and Analytics division.

Fund III is fully invested and was generating a net internal rate of return of 12 percent and a multiple of invested capital of 1.7x, as of 30 June, according to Carlyle’s second quarter earnings statement.

In July 2013, the fund acquired pharmaceutical and consumer packaging supplier Chesapeake from Irving Place Capital and Oaktree Capital Management. The fund also invested in automotive paints supplier DuPont Performance Coatings in 2012 and broadband communications and energy company Sagemcom in 2011.

Carlyle declined to comment.

CCP Fund IX is managed by London-based Charterhouse Capital Partners. Fund IX is a 2008-vintage fund that raised €4 billion, according to PEI data. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Washington State Investment Board and Portfolio Advisors also committed to the fund.

Charterhouse used Fund IX to invest in UK greeting card retailer Card Factory in 2010. The firm floated Card Factory on the London Stock Exchange in May of this year, but has retained a significant stake in the company, according to its website. Card Factory’s 225 pence IPO gave the company a £766 million market capitalisation. Although the company priced at the bottom of its 225 pence to 240 pence range, it reportedly allowed the firm to quadruple its initial investment in the company.

Still, in the middle of last year Charterhouse reportedly considered extending Fund IX’s investment period because it had only been able to deploy roughly 60 percent of the fund. It’s unclear if Charterhouse ever proceeded with the fund extension and the firm declined to comment.

Florida isn’t the first LP to sell its stake in Fund IX. In July, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board sold its stake to Adams Street Partners and in April, the National Pensions Reserve Fund of Ireland sold a portfolio of 24 fund interests, including Fund IX to Lexington Partners for €800 million.

The Carlyle and Charterhouse fund stakes were sold to Partners Group, which also bought stakes in 3i Eurofund V, 3i Growth Capital Fund and PAI Europe V from Florida last week.

“Our decision to sell was based on a combination of factors, including strong pricing and a desire to rebalance and refocus our European private equity portfolio,” a spokesperson told Secondaries Investor. “We are reducing our exposure to large pan-European GPs and increasing our focus on smaller, regional or country specific funds in Europe.“

The Tallahassee-based pension has $181 billion of assets under management.