Michigan Department of Treasury has made its first commitment to one of Ardian’s commingled private equity secondaries funds.
The pension, acting through the State of Michigan Investment Board, committed $150 million to ASF VIII, according to a quarterly investment update. The fund has been in market since the first half of last year, seeking $12 billion.
This is Michigan’s first commitment to one of the Paris-headquartered firm’s private equity secondaries funds, according to Secondaries Investor data. It has committed $30 million and $35 million, respectively, to Ardian’s 2017-vintage and 2014-vintage infrastructure secondaries vehicles.
Michigan’s outstanding private equity secondaries exposure consists of commitments to Coller Capital’s last five funds and to HarbourVest Partners’ 2011-vintage and 2015-vintage Dover Street funds.
The commitment to ASF VIII was part of $485 million of private equity commitments made by Michigan in the third quarter of last year. The pension had $11.97 billion in private equity assets under management as of the end of September.
Secondaries Investor reported in October that Ardian had raised $1.09 billion for ASF VIII from 28 US investors. The fund, which will mainly target complex deals of more than $1 billion in size, is targeting a net multiple of 1.6x and a net internal rate of return of 16 percent.
Predecessor ASF VII closed in 2016 on $14 billion including co-investment capital, above its $9 billion target, and has a $10.8 billion pocket dedicated to secondaries. The fund had delivered a 23 percent net IRR and 1.23x multiple as of March, Secondaries Investor reported.