Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association, Pasadena, Calif., is planning two RFPs, one for a $500 million nondollar bond portfolio and another for $330 million in high-yield bonds.
The nondollar RFP is expected to go out in September. Two current nondollar bond managers are expected to be in the running: Capital Guardian, which now runs a $520 million portfolio for LACERA, and Brinson Partners, which runs $400 million. A decision is expected by January.
Following the nondollar RFP, LACERA will begin its high-yield bond manager search. LACERA already has two high-yield bond managers, Oaktree Capital Management and Loomis Sayles, but it wants a third.
Also, Oaktree and Loomis will be getting an additional $60 million each in assets, bringing each portfolio to a little over $300 million. The money will come from the $1.3 billion LACERA has in a Lehman Brothers aggregate bond index fund with Bankers Trust. LACERA has $25 billion in total assets.
The high-yield search is expected to be completed in late spring. Frank Russell is assisting in both searches.