By David G. Barry
Minority-owned firms received just over half the $260 million that the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) Board of
Trustees have approved committing to private equity and real estate funds.
IMRF said $135 million, or 52%, was committed to the minority-owned firms. It
committed up to $50 million to women-owned Chicago Pacific Founders’ third
fund; up to $20 million to Asian woman-owned Agent Capital’s second fund; up to
$15 million in African American-owned Red Arts Capital’s Opportunity Fund I;
and up to $78.7 million in Latino-owned Long Wharf Real Estate Partners’
seventh fund.
The $48.4 billion pension fund also allocated up to $75 million in Blackstone
Real Estate Debt Strategies V, L.P. and up to $50 million in Security Capital
Preferred Growth LLC.
In March, $105 million, or 42% of the $252.4 million of private equity and real
estate commitments that IMRF approved went to minority-owned firms. Up to $75
million went to the sixth fund of Valor Equity Partners, a Latino-owned firm,
and up to $35 million went to Newport Capital Partners’ third fund. Newport
qualifies as a firm owned by a person with a disability.
IMRF, whose chief investment officer is Angela Miller-May, increased the
assets managed by minority-owned firms in 2021 by 21.2% to $13.4 billion. At
the end of 2021, minority-owned firms managed 23.5% of the total fund’s market
value.