New Mexico Pension Funds Now Allowed to Invest in Private Equity

The $6.7 billion New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (ERB), the $10 billion Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) and the $12 billion State Investment Council (SIC) will now be allowed invest in alternative asset classes such as private equity in accordance with the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (UPIA), which regulates fund managers, according to Thompson.com.

State legislators passed the bill in March by a large margin, making it clear they wanted the funds to have access to such investments.

The SIC has already made a commitment of $50 million into two private equity funds, according to Thompson.com.   Around $30   million will go to Capital Point Management’s fund Capital Point Partners, while $20 million will go to NGN Capital’s NGN BioMed Opportunity I.

New Mexico follows the move of many other states into private equity. On Monday,  Maryland announced that it would make the move, and in the past, so have Mississippi and New York (See   Mississippi Allows Pension Fund to Allocate 10% to Private Equity   and    New York City to Double Private Equity Investment).Massachusetts also made a recent move to up its investment in such vehicles.