Investors

Sports Venture Partners, a private equity firm founded by ex-NFL player Jim Flanigan and former Redskins marketing director John Wagner has closed its first real estate-focused fund of funds.

The $7.3 billion Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System is looking to significantly increase its exposure to real estate across the US and internationally.

The $121 billion CPPIB today argued before US lawmakers that it should not be lumped in with all sovereign wealth funds, as legislators in California attempt to bar the US’ largest pension groups from investing in private equity funds tied to sovereign wealth funds.

The firm’s European fund has acquired a portfolio of office properties scattered across the country.

PERE's sister news service PEO interviews Alberto Torrico, the California assemblyman who recently introduced a proposed law that would force the state’s public pensions to cease ties with firms that are partially owned by certain sovereign wealth funds. Torrico tells PEO he is particularly targeting alleged human rights abuses in the United Arab Emirates, and that the objections voiced by pension investment staff are “overstated, exaggerated”.

Some of Europe's biggest investors have thrown their weight behind industry efforts to create and expand a performance index.

The unrelenting rise of sovereign wealth and a promising outlook for MENA private equity funds were among the key talking points at PEI’s Middle East Private Equity Forum in Dubai.

Virginia Retirement System increases real estate and private equity allocations by three percentage points, saying it wants more flexibility in its portfolio.

HRJ Capital, the San Francisco fund of funds firm started by American pro-footballers Ronnie Lott and Harris Barton, has doubled its equity commitments for its latest vehicle.

The state’s employee retirement system last year enjoyed above-average returns for large US public pensions, thanks in part to its top performing asset classes such as real estate and private equity.