January 27th, 2026
Merced County Employees’ Retirement Association is weighing the risk tradeoffs of de-risking discussions as market inputs and plan funding improve, with trustees and consultant Cheiron framing the debate as a longer-term planning exercise rather than an imminent allocation move. The $1.42B plan reviewed valuation results, contribution projections, and the impact of higher-yielding fixed income alongside strong recent performance that lifted its funded ratio to roughly 84%.
Allocator activity stayed concrete across mandates and approvals. Iowa PERS opened an RFP for absolute return managers, seeking liquid, low-correlation strategies with room for performance-based fees, with proposals due February 20. NYSTRS disclosed $375M of Q4 2025 commitments across real estate and private equity and debt, including $200M to Abacus Multifamily Partners VII and $125M to SL Green Opportunity Debt Fund. In the UK, NOW: Pensions Trust is reportedly accelerating its private markets build-out, targeting a 5% allocation by year-end and potentially 10% earlier than expected.
On the GP side, Apollo is positioning hybrid capital as a more central portfolio strategy, emphasizing structured preferred equity and continuation vehicle applications that prioritize downside protection and contracted return features. StepStone launched its S-Core platform for core and core-plus real estate, hiring former UBS AM portfolio manager Jennifer Jones to lead the effort.
CedarBridge Capital Partners is now deploying capital from CedarBridge High Growth III with its formal launch against a $150M target and following a November 2025 initial close, while M&G outlined plans to deploy more than £1B into UK private markets via new infrastructure, housing, and growth equity strategies. Alquity also signaled a private markets push through a feeder fund tied to WTW’s co-investment private equity access platform, and in people news, Australia’s Brighter Super named Damien Webb as CIO with a start date in April.
Read on for all the day’s fundraising news headlines.
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