Lexington secures $25m US pension commitment

Lexington Partners‘ latest dedicated secondaries fund has received the backing of a long-time investor.

Anne Arundel County Retirement and Pension System, which has $1.68 billion in total assets under management, approved a $25 million commitment to Lexington Partners IX, according to minutes from its May board of trustees meeting. Advisor NEPC recommended the investment.

The Maryland pension invested $15 million in Lexington’s 2014-vintage Fund VIII and the same amount in its 2010-vintage Fund VII, according to minutes from its January 2017 meeting. It has a 9 percent private equity target allocation.

Lexington Partners IX has been in market since February and is seeking $12 billion. Investors so far include Minnesota State Board of Investment, which committed $150 million, and University of Houston System, which committed $10 million.

In June Brent Nicklas, who founded Lexington in 1993, announced that he would relinquish control over the day-to-day running of the firm. He will be replaced by former US secondaries head Wilson Warren, who will become co-chair of the firm’s secondaries investment committee alongside non-US secondaries head Pal Ristvedt.

Lexington is one of a handful of large secondaries players to return in 2018, with Ardian, Coller Capital, HarbourVest Partners and Blackstone’s Strategic Partners among those in market.