$100m Kentucky mandate for IFM

The Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System is the latest US pension to park its capital with Industry Funds Management.

A US public pension has invested with Industry Funds Management (IFM), allocating $100 million to the $7.1 billion IFM Global Infrastructure Fund.

The Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System (KTRS) selected IFM, in addition to hiring Angelo Gordon & Company, Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Golub Capital, Landmark Partners and Oaktree Capital Management.

In total, the pension plan doled out $390 million, awarding credit fund manager Golub Capital with the largest mandate: a $190 million allocation.

Meanwhile, distressed debt pioneer Angelo Gordon and publicly traded Oaktree collected $50 million apiece from the retirement fund, which also invested $35 million with secondary investor Landmark and $5 million with Fort Washington.

The pension plan has come to regard infrastructure as a “great diversifier,” said Gary Harbin, executive secretary with KTRS.

“The nature of the asset class is long-term, while we have a 30-year investment horizon,” Harbin noted. Harbin said KTRS would “continue to monitor the asset class”. The retirement fund has $16.5 billion under management.

The KTRS made its maiden commitment to infrastructure via Alinda Capital Partners – the $7.8 billion fund manager based in Connecticut -in 2009.

In investing with Alinda, KTRS committed $26.5 million to Alinda Infrastructure Fund I and $19.5 million to Alinda Infrastructure Fund II, according to its website.

For Melbourne, Australia-headquartered IFM, the mandate with KTRS marked the latest commitment from a US pension.

In March, the New Mexico State Investment Council invested $100 million in the IFM Global Infrastructure Fund, which amassed $2 billion in institutional capital in 2012.