Michigan makes debut Ardian PE secondaries commitment

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.