Calpers Boosts Venture, Growth Investments in PE Overhaul

California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the biggest US public pension fund, is deploying more money to fast-growing and early-stage companies as part of a broader revamp of its private equity portfolio.

Calpers, with more than $500 billion of assets, ramped up its investment in growth equity to 31% for the fiscal year ended June 2024 from 9% two years earlier. It also launched a venture capital program, which accounted for 12% of fund commitments in fiscal 2024.

The pension has continued to shift money away from large buyout funds and into lower-fee or higher-returning investments, Anton Orlich, Calpers’ ...