CalPERS Taps EMAlternatives For $100 Million Emerging Market Fund

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) announced today it will commit $100 million to Washington, DC-based EMAlternatives to make investments in global emerging markets. 

EMAlternatives will focus on investing in top-performing partnerships that employ a variety of investment styles and strategies, including expansion capital, buyout financing, and venture capital throughout the global emerging markets. EMAlternatives will also invest in secondaries, co-investments and mezzanine financing opportunities.

The new fund is expected to help CalPERS tap into attractive investment opportunities in markets around the world.

“EMAlternatives offers a fresh approach to investing with its global perspective and its pure focus on emerging markets,” said Charles P. Valdes, Chair of CalPERS Investment Committee. “Our new investment partner will give us broad exposure to quality global investments."

CalPERS investment with EMAlternatives will expand the pension fund’s exposure to emerging markets. CalPERS has committed $400 million to a similar emerging market investment fund and also invests more than $5 billion in emerging market public equity.

“There’s huge investment potential in the emerging markets,” said Russell Read, Chief Investment Officer for CalPERS. “We have great confidence that EMAlternatives will help us access the best performing managers in the global emerging markets.”

Consistent with the strategic realignment, the AIM Program is emphasizing larger relationships with a fewer number of partners while utilizing customized investment vehicles as an efficient means to deploy significant capital in attractive segments of the market, including emerging markets, cleantech, and other market niches targeted by the System.

Since 1990, CalPERS has invested in private companies primarily through limited partnerships or funds, typically with managers or general partners acting as third parties that invest the pension fund’s capital. The AIM Program had $31.2 billion in capital commitments as of December 31, 2006.

CalPERS is the nation’s largest pension fund with assets totaling more than $245 billion. The System administers retirement and health benefits for approximately 1.5 million current and retired public employees and their families, and 2,600 California public employers. For more information on CalPERS, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.