Alaska Permanent Adds $1.4B in Commitments; Baratta Leaving Blackstone

Alaska Permanent Adds $1.4B in Commitments

Baratta Leaving Blackstone

The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, which closed the fiscal year at $91.9B after a 12.42% net return, disclosed a quarter of broad portfolio activity spanning $271M in new private equity commitments across seven funds, $780M in gross hedge fund subscriptions against $123.5M in redemptions, $357.1M in real estate actions, and a $1.66B rebalancing out of active public equity mandates into index strategies run by State Street Global Advisors and Mellon.

In other allocator activity, the Vermont Pension Investment Commission approved roughly $187M across four private markets funds and adopted a revised strategic allocation for the OPEB plans it took over in August, shifting four percentage points out of global equity into private markets and real assets, while inviting Audax Group to present its latest buyout fund in October. Elsewhere, The North Dakota State Investment Board revised the asset allocation for its Workforce Safety & Insurance fund, lifting fixed income to 75% from 70% and cutting equity to 15% from 20%, replacing an eliminated TIPS target with a new allocation to high yield.

On the GP fundraising side, Preston Capital, a life settlement specialist led by former Blackstone distressed-investing co-head David Posnick, raised $311.5M from six investors for Preston Opportunistic Credit Fund I; UNIQA Real Estate Management, the property arm of Austrian insurer UNIQA Insurance Group, is opening its platform to outside capital for the first time with a new fund targeting €600M; and Meadow Partners is targeting $500M for its seventh flagship real estate vehicle, with the Virginia Retirement System already committing $125M.

In leadership news, Blackstone global head of private equity Joe Baratta is reportedly leaving the firm by year-end after 28 years; his role overseeing roughly $450B in private equity assets will not be filled, with responsibilities spread among existing fund heads. Separately, the New Mexico State Investment Council named Bruce Brown to a newly created systemic risk manager role covering climate and energy transition.