Kentucky Pension Board Approves $325 Million In New Alternative Investments

The Kentucky Retirement Systems’ Board of Trustees met Thursday, and the meeting produced several interesting news items.

One development, which Pension360 covered earlier today, involved increasing the transparency around the investment fees paid to outside firms that handle the System’s alternative investments.

The other item of interest had to do with alternatives, as well. The KRS Board approved $325 million in new alternative investments, to be placed with five different funds. The funds and allocations, as reported by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting:

A $100 million investment in the Deutsche Bank Secondary Opportunities Fund III will go toward limited partnership.

A $65 million investment in Taurus Mining Finance Fund will go toward precious and industrial metal mining ventures globally.

A $60 million investment in Crestview Partners III will go toward leveraged buyouts.

A $50 million investment in BTG Pactual Timberland Fund I will go toward timberland.

A $50 million investment in Oberland Capital Healthcare will go toward prescription drug royalties.

Under KRS’ new transparency rules, the fee rates paid to those individual funds will be public information.

But the public still won’t be able to see the dollar amounts paid in fees to those individual funds. And, as is common practice, the specific make-up of the funds will remain confidential.