Top Private Equity Managers by Pension Plan Commitments in 2020
by Andrés Ramos, Content Marketing Specialist – eVestment Private Markets
Despite pandemic, public pension plans continued to put capital to work
Our newly published report, detailing commitments reported by public pension plans to private funds through 2020, uncovers that 120 plans reported commitments of $83.1 billion to private equity funds in the year. The total represents a 20% increase from the 2019 full year figure and shows that institutional investors were able to adapt to digital due diligence and push forward with commitment pacing plans.
At right are the top 20 private equity fund managers of 2020 ranked by total reported dollars committed by public plan allocators.
Top Private Equity GPs
CVC Capital Partners took the crown as the number one destination for capital in 2020 from public pension plan investors, with $5.2 billion in total reported commitments. With 35 reported commitments, the fund manager averaged nearly three commitments a month for the year. CalPERS was the largest contributor for CVC, allocating $1.1 billion to the manager across two funds, CVC Capital VIII ($850 million) and CVC Capital Asia V ($200 million). Among the other investors committing to CVC funds were the five New York City public employee pension plans and three Los Angeles retirement systems.
Thoma Bravo finished in second spot for the year with a reported $4.2 billion raised. Commitments were spread across three different funds: Thoma Bravo XIV, Thoma Bravo Discover III, and Thoma Bravo Explore, each targeting control investments in technology companies in distinct market cap segments.
One name on the list that readers might be unfamiliar with is LongRange Capital. This first-time fund raised $1.5 billion in 2020 thanks to a single commitment from public plan titan CalPERS.
While finishing sixth in terms of total dollars committed, Clearlake trailed only the aforementioned CVC and Thoma Bravo in terms of number of individual commitments won. The fund manager won 27 commitments in 2020 with an average size of $67 million. These commitments flowed into two strategies, Clearlake VI and Clearlake Flagship Plus Partners.
| Fund Manager | Commitment Amount (MM) |
|---|---|
| CVC Capital Partners | $5,210 |
| Thoma Bravo | $4,218 |
| The Blackstone Group | $3,260 |
| Neuberger Berman | $3,125 |
| Silver Lake Partners | $2,890 |
| Francisco Partners | $1,890 |
| Clearlake Capital Group | $1,832 |
| GTCR | $1,751 |
| EQT Group | $1,690 |
| LongRange Capital | $1,500 |
| New Mountain Capital | $1,408 |
| HgCapital | $1,324 |
| Insight Venture Partners | $1,224 |
| Lexington Partners | $1,195 |
| Ares Management | $1,160 |
| Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. | $1,150 |
| Clayton Dubilier & Rice | $1,135 |
| TCMI | $1,068 |
| H.I.G. Capital | $1,057 |
| Asia Alternatives | $1,050 |
