Kern County (Calif.) Employees Retirement Association (KCERA) approved investments of $35 million each in the Blackstone Harvest and PIMCO public market midstream energy strategies at the board’s Aug. 12 board meeting.
The two strategies are now part of KCERA’s midstream allocation.
At its April 1, board meeting KCERA approved a long-term strategic asset allocation, which includes a 5 percent allocation to midstream energy. On April 10, KCERA issued an RFP seeking managers to run its public market midstream energy investment strategy.
The board received a total of 10 proposals and in June shortlisted the top two firms — Harvest and PIMCO — and conducted due diligence.
Harvest was acquired by Blackstone in 2017 and remains an independent business unit within the firm. Harvest focuses exclusively on managing public market midstream energy portfolios. Blackstone has roughly $538 billion in assets under management, including Harvest’s assets of $6.8
