Fresno seeks private equity and credit manager

Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association (FCERA) is looking for a private equity and credit separate account manager, and plans to look at secondaries opportunistically.

The $4 billion California pension, which has a 14 percent target to the asset classes, is underweight in the area with current invested assets at about 4.3 percent, Donald Kendig, retirement administrator at FCERA, told sister publication Private Debt Investor.

“We are… interested in a manager that could get us vintage year diversification looking backwards, through secondaries, on an opportunistic basis,” Kendig said.

The pension fund’s consultant, Seattle-based Verus, has been directed to start the search. The firm will handle about $400 million across both private equity and credit.

Hiring a manager is a quicker and more efficient way for the pension fund to get up to its target, Kendig said, and certain administrative tasks can be outsourced.

“We would like to outsource the accounting and legal to simplify the process for staff, as we do not have a substantial amount of accounting staff to handle the increased workload,” Kendig said.

The pension fund’s target for private equity is 6 percent, while its allocation to private credit should be 8 percent. FCERA’s recent private equity investments included a fund of funds managed by Hamilton Lane and a Landmark Partners secondaries fund.

Reporting by Anastasia Donde.