VentureBeat

Calpers, the largest public pension fund in the U.S., voted yesterday to increase its asset allocation for private equity and venture capital investments — a move that comes in start contrast with most other institutional investors, who are slashing their target allocations.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers’ full name), says it will increase its investments in this area by between 4 and 14 percent of the recommended portfolio allocation. The organization says the decision will allow it to be both cautious and nimble enough to react to ripe opportunities.

The vote coincides with the release of results from a Coller Capital-administered survey, indicating that 20 percent of institutional investors plan to downsize their private equity allocations in the next year. This figure usually hovers around 3 to 6 percent. While 15 percent still intend to increase their allocations, that number is down from 50 percent in the summer of 2007, reports Dan Primack of peHub.

The dip in allocations is largely due to the decrease in the number of operating private equity firms. With predictions that 28 percent of venture capital firms and 23 percent of buyout firms will go defunct in the next seven years, there are far fewer safe investments.

Next Story: Mobile payment startup Boku rolls up social rivals, raises funding
Previous Story: iPhone, iPod touch users hit the Net from their handsets more than a computer