Merced County Adopts New Portfolio Framework; Rhode Island Eyes Raising PE Target

Merced County Adopts New Portfolio Framework

Rhode Island Eyes Raising PE Target

Merced County Employees' Retirement Association adopted a new "functional framework" that splits its $1.5B portfolio into growth and diversifying buckets, without changing underlying manager lineups, as staff moves to correct a diversifying-sleeve shortfall running roughly 2.5–2.7 percentage points below its 18% policy target. Consultant Meketa flagged a widening performance gap between AI-exposed and AI-averse strategies, with international equity managers GQG, Artisan Partners, and RWC remaining on watch status after trailing their benchmarks by wide margins amid the AI-driven rally.

Among other allocators, Rhode Island's state pension is weighing a proposed increase to its long-term growth target to 60% from 55%, driven by higher private equity and non-core real estate allocations, as part of an asset-liability study under review by Meketa; the New York State Common Retirement Fund disclosed approximately $1.8B in new commitments spanning private equity, real estate, fixed income, and opportunistic strategies, while terminating two public equity managers; and the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund approved roughly $1.3B in commitments across infrastructure, energy, and real estate strategies.

On the GP fundraising side, a16z raised $1.1B for its Machine Age Fund, a new vehicle targeting the physical infrastructure underpinning AI – chips, data centers, networking and robotics – marking the firm's first fund dedicated specifically to AI hardware. Separately, Dakota spoke with Alpha Summit portfolio manager Steve Dymant about the firm's Goal Line Growth Fund, a multi-manager vehicle offering qualified purchasers diversified sports exposure through a $250K minimum check. The fund plans to close to new investors in December, moved up from a previously communicated February 2027 target, with about $25M committed toward its $100M goal.

In people news, the Virginia Tech Foundation appointed Maggie Millhiser as permanent CIO, confirming her in the role she had held on an interim basis since David Greenberg's departure earlier this year; Millhiser previously served as the foundation's managing director of investments. And Anthony Tang was promoted to managing director and head of public markets at the TTC Pension Plan, overseeing more than $3.5B in assets across hedge funds, global equities, fixed income, and absolute return strategies.