Montana Weighs Pension Allocation Shift; Ara Partners Closes $2.5B Energy Fund

Montana Weighs Pension Allocation Shift

Ara Partners Closes $2.5B Energy Fund

Montana Board of Investments is weighing asset allocation changes to its Consolidated Asset Pension Pool and Trust Funds Investment Pool following discussions with staff and general consultant RVK. For CAPP, the domestic equity midpoint would fall to 27% from 28% while international equity rises to 16% from 15%. TFIP changes are wider, introducing new minimums for non-core fixed income and real assets (each moving to a 3-12% range from 0-6%) and real estate (10-30% from 0-30%), while narrowing investment grade fixed income to 50-75% from 60-100%.

Among other US allocators, the joint boards of the City of Fresno Retirement Systems approved up to $400M in new international equity commitments, split evenly between a GQG Partners commingled fund and an Acadian Asset Management separately managed account, funded by trimming Baillie Gifford, Principal, and BlackRock mandates after staff flagged concentrated manager and style exposures hurting relative performance. Elsewhere, The Delaware State Board of Pension Trustees approved up to $75M across Khosla Ventures’ current fund series, re-upping after backing the prior series in 2025, as Khosla is reportedly seeking to raise as much as $5.5B across the three funds.

On the GP fundraising side, Ares Management registered its fourth US senior direct lending fund, expected to reach nearly $20B following Fund III’s $15.3B close in 2024. Separately, Ara Partners closed Ara Energy Fund I at its hard cap, raising $2.5B including co-investment for its HF Capital-backed energy decarbonization strategy; and Global Infrastructure Partners disclosed a $1.13B raise for a new Luxembourg vehicle following Fund V’s $25.2B close last year.

In leadership developments, Bow River Capital named private equity head Greg Hiatrides as CEO, succeeding founder Blair Richardson after 23 years; Octagon Credit Investors appointed John Zilko, formerly of Antares Capital, as head of investor solutions and business development; and Adil Haque, a 12-year EQT veteran, joined Lightspeed as partner and head of capital partnerships.