New Mexico SIC commits $100m to Landmark

The state investment council committed $100m to Landmark’s 15th secondaries fund, amid the pension’s plans to 'thin' its private equity portfolio.

The New Mexico State Investment Council has committed $100 million to Landmark Partners’ fifteenth secondaries fund.

Fund XV is targeting $2.5 billion for investments across the Western market, according to documents from New Mexico SIC’s Tuesday board meeting. The fund also received a $60 million re-up investment from the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund. Other investors include the Detroit General Retirement System and PKA Alternative Investment Partners, which manages alternative assets on behalf of five Danish occupational pension funds, according to PEl’s Research and Analytics division.

Landmark’s previous fund collected $1.93 billion in 2010, according to PEI data. The firm has raised $10 billion across 29 private equity and real estate funds since its founding in 1989.

New Mexico SIC previously committed $20 million to Landmark’s eleventh fund in 2002. Fund XV is the second secondaries fund New Mexico has committed to in two years—last year it committed to Coller Capital’s sixth international fund. But the state investment council is trying to slim down its private equity portfolio through attrition and a possible secondary sale, according to the spokesperson.

“We are concentrating on thinning our private equity portfolio to a core group of managers over time, the spokesperson said. “The intent is to improve portfolio focus and avoid the potential for a muddied strategy through diversification.”

New Mexico SIC has stakes in more than 120 funds managed by 80 general partners but plans to reduce both by about half over the next several years by selling fund positions on the secondary market. This week, the council approved a policy update allowing staff flexibility to execute sales on the secondary market, if the council comes across attractive opportunities. New Mexico SIC previously completed a sale of venture capital and private equity holdings in 2006.