St Louis Public Schools backs Glendower and Landmark

A US pension fund has made two secondaries commitments, including an investment in Glendower Capital‘s latest fund.

The Public School Retirement System of the City of St Louis has committed $5 million to Glendower Capital Secondary Opportunities Fund IV and $10 million to Landmark Partners’ Landmark Equity Partners XVI, according to minutes from its 15 March investment committee meeting.

The committee considered investing in only one of the two before opting to make both commitments, the minutes note.

Investment advisor NEPC recommended the move.

Glendower registered Fund IV with the UK’s Companies House in November and a vehicle for US investors with the Securities and Exchange Commission on 6 April.

It is the firm’s first independently raised fund since it spun out from Deutsche Asset Management in July, as revealed by Secondaries Investor.

The fund’s target is not known.

Landmark launched Landmark Private Equity Secondaries Fund XVI in May 2016 with a $4 billion target and a $4.7 billion hard-cap, according to PEI data.

The fund was expected to close at the end of the first quarter, according to Aidan Riordan, executive vice-president of Landmark’s parent company Old Mutual Asset Management, speaking on a third-quarter earnings call in November 2017.

The fund has a life of 14 years, with two optional extra years that can be activated only at the general partner’s discretion, Secondaries Investor reported in January.

St Louis previously invested in the $1.65 billion DB Secondary Opportunities Fund III, the last fund raised by Deutsche Asset Management before the spinout of its secondaries team, according to PEI data. It also invested in Landmark’s 2010- and 2013-vintage private equity secondaries funds.

The pension is 3 percent exposed to private equity and debt, according to documents attached to the minutes, versus a target allocation of 9 percent. The fund has $926 million in assets under management.