The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board’s (PRIM) $19.5 billion private equity portfolio returned 8.4% net over the trailing year, with its buyout strategy outperforming its benchmark despite a challenging environment for growth and venture investments.
The broader PRIT Fund returned 11.5% net for the year ended March 31, 2026, generating $12.6 billion in investment gains, though it fell short of its total fund benchmark return of 12.8%.
During an update to the investment committee, Michael McGirr, senior investment officer and director of private equity, said PRIM’s buyout portfolio returned 8.7% over the one-year period, outperforming the State Street Buyouts benchmark return of 8.3%. Overall private equity performance, however, lagged the State Street Private Equity benchmark as well as U.S. and developed public equity markets.
McGirr said weaker relative performance in PRIM’s venture capital portfolio largely reflected benchmark composition rather than underlying portfolio fundamentals. The State Street Private Equity Index has become increasingly concentrated in a handful of artificial intelligence companies, including OpenAI, SpaceX, Anthropic, Cursor, Databricks, Scale AI, Anduril, Perplexity and xAI, creating a relative headwind for investors without similar exposure. Despite the recent underperformance, PRIM’s private equity portfolio has generated a 10-year net annualized return of 15.75%.
For the quarter, from October through December 2025, the private equity portfolio returned 1.4% net. Venture capital led returns at 3.3%, followed by global equity at 2.4% and small- and mid-market buyouts at 1.9%. Middle- and large-cap buyouts returned 0.9%, while co-investments gained 0.6%. Secondaries declined 4.2%.
Cash flows remained positive during the quarter, with distributions exceeding contributions. Private equity assets totaled $19.5 billion at quarter end, representing 16% of the PRIT Fund and remaining within the target allocation range. At the midpoint of the year, the investment team said it was on pace to meet its 2026 commitment target of $1.8 billion to $2.2 billion.
Separately, the investment committee is scheduled to consider commitments of up to $28 million to USV 2026, L.P. and $22 million to USV Opportunity 2026, L.P., up to $150 million each to TCV Global Growth XIII, L.P. and the Mayflower Technology Fund, up to $250 million to GTCR Fund XV, and up to $75 million to Volition Capital Fund VI.