CalSTRS Defends Private Markets; Ampersand 2026 Hits $1.5B Hard Cap

CalSTRS CIO Scott Chan used the fund's latest investment committee meeting to defend the $415B pension's allocation to private markets and alts, arguing against what he called the temptation to chase recent public equity outperformance. Chan pointed to private equity's superior track record over five-, 10-, and 20-year horizons and singled out infrastructure as a particularly compelling opportunity, citing the AI capital expenditure cycle, rising energy prices, and global supply chain realignment as drivers. The remarks carried a forward-looking signal for GPs, as Chan outlined CalSTRS' ambition to write significantly larger checks — describing data center financings spanning real estate, utilities, energy, and both public and private debt as $25B to $50B opportunities — and confirmed the fund is developing a formal private markets engagement priorities framework, expected to be disclosed publicly in February 2027.

North Carolina Retirement Systems disclosed a wide-ranging slate of new commitments spanning hedge funds, private equity, infrastructure, and real estate — headlined by $2B to an internal real assets staging portfolio and $1B to an ArcLight Capital Partners-managed infrastructure SMA — as the system reached a record $147.4B as of May 14. Separately, Minnesota State Board of Investments committed $150M each to Bregal Sagemount V and Dunes Point Capital IV — first-time commitments to both managers — as its private markets program, currently at 21% of the combined fund against a 25% target, works toward $3.5B to $4.5B in new commitments for the year.

On the GP fundraising side, Ampersand Capital Partners closed Ampersand 2026 LP at its $1.5B hard cap, 25% larger than its predecessor and reached in a single close less than five months after launch. The Boston-based firm, which targets majority and minority investments in healthcare and life sciences companies, now manages over $4B. Also in the pipeline, Elham Credit Partners — the Singapore-based private credit arm of Hillhouse Investment — is planning its second Asia Pacific-focused fund targeting $700M–$750M, according to a media report, following a debut strategy that deployed capital across India, Australia, and Japan.

In people news, Global Infrastructure Partners hired Mati Adler as a product specialist focused on fundraising for the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership, the open-end fund targeting AI data center and energy infrastructure. Adler joins from Vista Equity Partners, where he led the firm's Capital & Partner Solutions product strategy.

Read on for all the day’s fundraising news headlines.

The US public pension system spans 800+ plans. But 24 of them — just 2.9% — control nearly 60% of all assets.

Everything meaningful in private markets flows from that concentration.

And yet most managers still treat the universe as if it's flat. Wrong consultant. Wrong contact. Wrong tier.

Dakota's definitive US public pension report maps all of it — allocation behavior, consultant gatekeepers, CIO transitions, and $309B in recent commitments — across the full $9T system.

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