The Teachers Retirement System of the State of Illinois (TRS Illinois), a $44 billion pension system, has committed a total of $150 million to UK-based investment firms LCM Partners and Pemberton.
LCM Partners, which received $100 million, has been investing in credit since 1999 and targets mid-market transactions of between €5 million to €75 million across consumer and SME loans.
The firm’s Credit Opportunities Strategy III launched in mid-2014 and has delivered an annualised unleveraged return of 14.6 percent since inception. It was voted PDI’s European distressed debt manager of the year in our 2015 awards.
Pemberton, the European mid-market private debt and direct lending firm, has received $50 million from TRS Illinois.
Pemberton announced in July last year that it had raised €547 million at the first close of its inaugural European Mid-Market Debt Strategy. In the PDI awards it was voted global newcomer of the year for 2015.
Both of the commitments came from the pension’s $7.8 billion Global Fixed Income portfolio. As part of the same announcement, the pension also made commitments to five private equity firms including Astorg Asset Management and EQT.
TRS Illinois is the 37th largest pension system in the US and had assets of $43.8 billion as of March 31 2015.