Champaign, IL – The State Universities Retirement (SURS) Board of Trustees on Friday approved hiring PCA as general investment consultant for a five-year term, subject to successful completion of contract negotiations. Other firms considered were Meketa Investment Group, NEPC and Aon Hewitt.
The consultant will recommend asset allocation, conduct in-depth analysis of recommended asset classes or sub-asset classes, develop benchmarks for evaluation, construct attribution analysis for asset classes and forecast variables, establish empirically-based benchmarks for each asset class and sub-asset class, and provide manager structure recommendations within each class.
Trustees also voted to hire AQR Capital Management, Gladius Capital Management and Neuberger Berman to manage options-writing strategies. AQR and Gladius will each receive allocations of .5 percent of the fund’s assets or approximately $95 million. Neuberger Berman will receive an allocation of 1 percent of the fund’s assets or approximately $190 million. Rampart Investment Management Company was also a finalist in the search process.
Blue Bay Asset Management was terminated as an Emerging Markets Debt (EMD) manager. Assets will be reallocated to three existing EMD managers:
- Colchester Global Investors – $30 million
- Progress Investment Management – $50 million
- Prudential – (The remainder of the assets) approximately $112 million