Dakota News: January 22, 2025 (Test)

Fundraising News:

Ardian Makes Record $30B Secondaries Fundraise with ASF IX

Ardian reported raising $30B for the ninth iteration of its secondaries platform, marking the largest global secondaries fundraise to date and a significant increase from the $19B raised by its 2020-vintage predecessor.

Ardian said the fundraise was oversubscribed and closed at its hard cap, attracting more than 465 investors in total from 44 countries across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia. The fund’s investor base includes pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions and high-net worth individuals.

According to Dakota data, the California State Teachers Retirement System ($250M), Pennsylvania State Employee Retirement System ($100M) and New York City Employees’ Retirement System ($69.2M) are among the institutional investors in the fund. Ardian also said it realized strong growth from private wealth investors, which accounted for 22% of the total equity raised, compared to 11% in the eighth-generation platform.

In a news release announcing the close, Mark Benedetti, co-head of secondaries at Ardian, said the fund is 50% deployed with an average deal size of $2B and its last two deals each surpassing $3B. Completion of the fundraise brings Ardian’s secondaries and primaries AUM to $97B. The firm manages $176B of total assets spanning private equity, real assets, and credit for more than 1,720 clients globally.

Ridgewood Infrastructure Raises $1.2B for Second Fund

Ridgewood Infrastructure announced that it captured a total of $1.2B in capital commitments on the final close of its Ridgewood Water & Strategic Infrastructure Fund II.

The second-generation fund was oversubscribed, surpassing its $1B target with strong backing from institutional investors from North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Per Dakota data, Fund II received support from public pensions including Sacramento County Employees Retirement System, State of Michigan Investment Board, San Jose Federated City Employees Retirement System, and City of San Jose Police and Fire Department Retirement, with the Michigan pension alone allocating $75M to the infrastructure strategy.

Fund II will build on its predecessor fund’s investments in public-private partnerships. Fund I recently exited its controlling interest in Texas-based natural gas company SiEnergy, as well as in the Vista Ridge Water Pipeline in October last year. Meanwhile, Ridgewood said Fund II has also already made investments, including the water treatment plant Prospect Lake Clean Water Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Eaton Partners served as placement agent and Vinson & Elkins LLP as legal advisor to Ridgewood for the fundraiser.

More Coverage

https://www.dakota.com/fundraising-news/ardian-raises-3.2b-for-sixth-generation-expansion-fund
https://www.dakota.com/fundraising-news/colbeck-capital-closes-third-private-credit-fund-at-700m
https://www.dakota.com/fundraising-news/apollo-backed-new-catalyst-plans-sale-of-a-shares-in-debut-fund
http://www.dakota.com/fundraising-news/dunport-raises-200m-at-first-close-of-fourth-credit-fund

Investment News

Cook County Commits $30M to BIG Real Estate Fund III

The Cook County Annuity and Benefit Fund disclosed making a $30M commitment to a debt real estate fund in its released December 5, 2024, meeting minutes.

The Illinois-based pension board unanimously approved the allocation to Basis Investment Group (BIG) Real Estate Fund III, in a follow-up to the $25M commitment it made to the fund’s predecessor in 2022. The allocation was recommended by Cook County’s investment committee, as well as its general consultant Callan.

As of the latest Dakota data, Cook County manages approximately $13.3B in gross plan assets.

Howard County Allocates $16M to Third Digital Alpha Infra Fund

The Howard County Master Trust has approved a proposed $16M commitment to Digital Alpha Fund III to fulfill its 2025-2026 real assets allocation.

According to the pension’s December 10, 2024, meeting minutes, the board approved the investment in Digital Alpha’s third vintage global infrastructure fund following a discussion which included general consultant NEPC, who recommended the commitment as reported by Dakota on January 14. The investment will cover the pension’s real assets allocation until next year, as the asset class represents a “smaller commitment amount” out of Howard County’s total portfolio.

Per Dakota data, the Maryland-based pension manages plan assets totaling $1.6B.

To read more from Dakota News, visit our website at dakota.com!

Job Changes

Matthew Nurnberger - Assistant Vive President, SIS Financial Consultant
Firm Left: Village Wealth Management, a LPL team
Firm Joined: Santander Bank

Phillip Schmidt - Director - Investment Business Strategist
Firm Left: Verus
Firm Joined: Metlife Investment Management (MIM)

Role Changes

  • Henry Biddlecombe promoted to Investment Manager at Alcuin Capital Partners LLP
  • Stergios Saloustros promoted to Managing Director, CIO of Barclays UK
  • Retirement Fund at Barclays Bank UK Corporation
  • Fanny Bourdais de Charbonnière promoted to Investment Director -Sustainable Investments at California Public Employees' Retirement Systems
  • Jacopo Gardenghi promoted to Portfolio Manager at Fedesa
  • Pravesh Kumar promoted to Sr. Manager, Multi Asset Research at State Street
  • Scott Snyder promoted to Senior Vice President, Head of Equities at Sentinel Trust Company
  • Matthew Kwan promoted to Senior Risk Analyst at McGill University Office of Investments

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