Oklahoma re-ups in Ardian and Pomona funds

Ardian and Pomona Capital have received re-ups from Oklahoma Firefighters Pension & Retirement System.

The $2.3 billion pension committed $50 million to Ardian Early Secondaries Fund VI, which buys stakes in younger funds, and the same amount to Pomona Capital IX, a global secondaries fund, according to Troy Brown at AndCo, a consultant to the retirement fund.

The Ardian vehicle is the successor to its Early Secondaries Fund V which closed in 2012 and had a €600 million target. Pomona IX is the successor to its eighth fund which closed oversubscribed on its $1.75 billion hard cap in 2014, according to PEI data.

Oklahoma Firefighters’ commitment to Pomona’s latest fund, which the firm began raising in March, represents a $10 million increase on its commitment to Pomona Capital VIII. The retirement fund had also committed $40 million to Ardian’s Secondary Fund VI, the firm’s traditional flagship vehicle which closed in 2014 on $6 billion.

The strategy behind early secondaries differs from traditional secondaries investments, where an investor is looking to acquire limited partnership interests that are 70 percent to 75 percent invested, and is making a bet on the companies in which the fund manager has invested. With early secondaries, the fund manager still has most of the fund to invest.