Oregon makes first ever Carlyle-affiliated commitment

The Oregon Investment Council has committed $100m to Riverstone/Carlyle Renewable & Alternative Energy Fund II and $200m to Alinda’s latest infrastructure vehicle.

The Oregon Investment Council has approved a $100 million (€147 million) commitment to the second renewable energy fund being raised by The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings – the institutional investor's first ever commitment to a Carlyle-affiliated fund. 

The OIC invests a series of trusts including the $57.4 billion Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund and has invested in private equity funds since the early 1980s. It is often characterised as one of the strongest supporters of funds raised by buyout giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Riverstone/Carlyle Renewable & Alternative Energy Fund II, which will focus on renewable and alternative assets that produce fuel or electric power, is targeting $4 billion and has a $5 billion hard cap.

The OIC also approved a $200 million investment in Alinda’s latest infrastructure vehicle, which is seeking a target close of $3 billion with a hard cap of $5 billion. Alinda will focus 60 percent of the fund on public infrastructure, 30 percent on energy infrastructure and 10 percent on industrial infrastructure. Other limited partners in Alinda’s second fund include the Alaska Permanent Corporation and the Washington State Investment Board.

Like many other institutional investors, the OIC is battling an increasingly overweighted private equity allocation. The OIC’s actual allocation increased to 17.4 percent this month; the pension’s target allocation stands at 16 percent with a range of 12 to 20 percent.

Oregon Public Employees Retirement System senior investment officer Jay Fewel recently told sister publication Private Equity Interational that the pension “did a pacing study in July and it indicated under various market scenarios, we could go over the top [of the target range]. But it would really take a dramatic fall in the public markets.”