Slideshow: A Look at CalPERS’s Top-Performing Funds

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is, as everybody knows, the nation’s largest public pension fund with $233.6 billion of assets as of March 31 (the latest figure available, reported today). It also has one of the industry’s largest portfolios of private equity investments; its $33.2 billion Alternative Investment Management program represents 14.2% of its total assets.

We thought it would be interesting to find some of the system’s top-ranking funds, which it reports on its Web site. The list that follows is current through Sept. 30. Sponsors report mark-to-market values on their portfolios quarterly, and they have 120 days to provide the information to their investors, so there is a two-quarter lag before CalPERS reports individual fund performance to the public.

This slide show is a countdown, presented ranked by investment multiple. (As a point of comparison, when sister publication Buyouts Magazine did its annual ranking of fund performance last fall, based on reports from multiple sponsors, we found that it required a 2.0 investment multiple to crack the top quartile.) We had one tie, at No. 8. There we ranked T3 Partners II LP higher than CVC European Equity Partners III LP because of its larger IRR.

Source: CalPERS
[slideshow]
[slide title=”10 – Altor 2003 Fund (No.1) Limited Partnership4″]
Altor 2003 Fund (No.1) Limited Partnership4
Vintage year: 2003
Capital commitment: $12.3 million
Cash in: $11.4 million
Cash out and remaining value: $34.8 million
Investment multiple: 3.0x
Net IRR: 37.3%
[slide title=”8 – CVC European Equity Partners III LP”]
CVC European Equity Partners III LP
Vintage year: 2001
Capital commitment: $200 million
Cash in: $191.8 million
Cash out and remaining value: $587.3 million
Investment multiple: 3.1x
Net IRR: 43.0%
[slide title=”8 – T3 Partners II LP”]
T3 Partners II LP
Vintage year: 2001
Capital commitment: $57 million
Cash in: $49.6 million
Cash out and remaining value: $154.9 million
Investment multiple: 3.1x
Net IRR: 95.4%
[slide title=”7 – Lime Rock Partners II LP”]
Lime Rock Partners II LP
Vintage year: 2003
Capital commitment: $10 million
Cash in: $8.8 million
Cash out and remaining value: $28.0 million
Investment multiple: 3.2x
Net IRR: 54.8%
[slide title=”6 – Advent Global Private Equity IV-A LP”]
Advent Global Private Equity IV-A LP
Vintage year: 2002
Capital commitment: $25 million
Cash in: $24 million
Cash out and remaining value: $77.5 million
Investment multiple: 3.2x
Net IRR: 52.4%
[slide title=”5 – KPS Special Situations Fund II (A) LP”]
KPS Special Situations Fund II (A) LP
Vintage year: 2003
Capital commitment: $20 million
Cash in: $14.8 million
Cash out and remaining value: $50.7 million
Investment multiple: 3.4x
Net IRR: 57.6%
[slide title=”4 – WLR Recovery Fund I LP”]
WLR Recovery Fund I LP
Vintage year: 1997
Capital commitment: $50 million
Cash in: $50 million
Cash out and remaining value: $175.7 million
Investment multiple: 3.5x
Net IRR: 35.1%
[slide title=”3 – Avalon Ventures VIII LP”]
Avalon Ventures VIII LP
Vintage year: 2007
Capital commitment: $15 million
Cash in: $8.0 million
Cash out and remaining value: $28.7 million
Investment multiple: 3.6x
Net IRR: 121.7%
[slide title=”2 – Newbridge Asia III LP”]
Newbridge Asia III LP
Vintage year: 2003
Capital commitment: $75 million
Cash in: $68.8 million
Cash out and remaining value: $257.8 million
Investment multiple: 3.7x
Net IRR: 30.0%
[slide title=”1 – GCP California Fund LP”]
GCP California Fund LP
Vintage year: 2003
Capital commitment: $50 million
Cash in: $ 40.7million
Cash out and remaining value: $345.0 million
Investment multiple: 8.5x
Net IRR: 90.2%
[/slideshow]

Steve Bills is a senior editor at Buyouts Magazine. Any opinions expressed here are his own. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Bills. Follow Buyouts tweets @Buyouts. For information on how to subscribe, contact Greg Winterton at greg.winterton@thomsonreuters.com.