NJSIC nears sale of stake in JLL Partners V

A secondaries sale would allow the $79bn pension fund to remove a connection with controversial payday lender ACE Cash Express.

The New Jersey State Investment Council is getting one step closer to selling its stake in JLL Partners’ fifth fund, which is exposed to a payday lender, according to a spokesman for the pension fund.

JLL Partners V is invested in ACE Cash Express, a payday lender, which created controversy earlier this year when several advocacy groups expressed concerns regarding New Jersey’s exposure to a business that charges high interest rates for loans made to Americans.

Chris McDonough, director of the New Jersey Division of Investment, said at a meeting last week that the division had further discussed the possibility to sell its stake on the secondaries market.

“Director McDonough noted at the meeting that the Division has discussed the matter of JLL and its connection to ACE at length with the SIC investment policy committee, and is in the process of moving forward with–but has not finalized–what we believe to be the best course of action for the pension fund and beneficiaries,” said a spokesman. “The Division hopes to report a conclusion to this matter at the next SIC meeting.”

The next meeting of the NJSIC will be held on 18 November, according to its website.

New Jersey committed $50 million in 2005 to JLL Partners V. JLL Partners is a mid-market buyout firm with more than $4 billion under management across six funds. New Jersey also committed $150 million to JLL Partners VI.