NJDOI Deploys $1.7B, VCERA Targets $220M in New Private Credit

The New Jersey Division of Investment disclosed $1.7B in alts commitments across five vehicles in its April 2026 director's report. The two largest commitments went to secondaries and private credit: $600M to a feeder tied to Lexington Partners' secondary private equity program, and $400M to Blue Torch Capital's direct lending strategy through a dedicated feeder vehicle, accompanied by a $200M co-investment allocation. In real estate, NJDOI committed $400M to a separately managed account sponsored by The Townsend Group and $125M to Hillwood's core-plus industrial fund, US Industrial Club VII.

Other allocator updates included New Mexico SIC approving two infrastructure commitments, including $300M to LS Power Equity Partners VI, a re-up from its $250M commitment to Fund V, targeting opportunistic North American power and energy infrastructure. The council also committed up to $100M to SDC Capital Partners' Digital Infrastructure Opportunity Fund V, marking its first investment with the New York-based data center and fiber manager. Additionally, Ventura County Employees' Retirement Association approved a 2026 private credit pacing plan targeting $220M in new commitments, designed to close the gap between its current 8.2% allocation and a 10% target – part of a broader $595M private markets pacing plan.

On the GP fundraising side, Primary Wave Music closed its fourth flagship fund oversubscribed at $2.23B, calling it the largest dedicated closed-end music royalties fund raised to date. Elsewhere, Investindustrial closed its fourth lower middle-market fund at the €1.5B hard cap after less than four months of fundraising, targeting European family-owned businesses in industrial manufacturing and healthcare. And PAG is reportedly targeting $2.5B for a new real estate fund focused primarily on Japan, where the firm has doubled its planned deployment target over the next three to four years.

In people news, Rodney June, CIO of the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System, will retire after nearly 14 years in the role, with a successor search expected to begin in May. The Southern Ute Indian Tribe's Permanent Fund Investments office named Andy Baumbusch as director of investments; he joins from Royal Elk Holdings and previously spent 20 years as a portfolio manager at Cambiar Investors. 

And recent studies from J.P. Morgan Asset Management and BlackRock show the average US corporate defined benefit plan is now fully funded, with ratios in the 106%–108% range, the highest since before the global financial crisis – with a growing bias toward liability-driven investing and alternative credit.

Real assets were the largest allocation bucket in Q1.

Nearly 40% of all capital went to infrastructure and real assets strategies, with a growing focus on energy transition and digital infrastructure.

The driver is structural.

AI and data center growth are creating massive demand for power, storage, and physical infrastructure — and pensions are positioning early.

Dakota’s Public Pension Allocations Report breaks down how allocators are deploying into these themes — from renewables to logistics to digital assets.

Because in private markets today, some of the most important investments aren’t digital. They’re physical.

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Endowment portfolios don’t change often.

But when leadership does, everything gets reviewed.

Dakota has tracked a wave of CIO transitions across the endowment landscape — each triggering a 12–18 month window where manager relationships are reassessed and new allocations are considered.

For investment firms, these moments matter.

They represent one of the few times established portfolios are open to change.

Dakota’s latest report maps these transitions alongside broader trends in allocation, governance, and portfolio construction.

Because in institutional fundraising, timing can matter as much as access.

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