Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • LOGIN
  • Subscribe
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Face to Face
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • WPS Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2023 Defined Contribution East
    • 2023 ESG Investing
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Print
November 30, 1998 12:00 AM

MAYNARD COMPLETES IDAHO FUND OVERHAUL

Ricki Fulman
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    BOISE, Idaho - Robert Maynard, chief investment officer of the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho, is completing his overhaul of the $5.6 billion fund by increasing real estate and private equity allocations.

    When Mr. Maynard took over the fund six years ago, he inherited several blind commingled real estate funds, which he has been selling off ever since. As a result, the real estate component has shrunk to 1% from 10%.

    Now he is in the process of building it back up to 3%, and also increasing the fund's private equity allocation to 3% of assets from its current 1% to 1.5%, Mr. Maynard said in an interview.

    Six years ago, the Idaho system had a complex structure that Mr. Maynard simplified by eliminating real estate and small-cap equities as separate asset classes and including them as part of broader equity or fixed-income classes. In addition to slashing real estate holdings, he also terminated many regional money managers for numerous overseas strategies, because it was too confusing, he said.

    Asset allocation was changed as well. Equities were increased to 70% from 55% and within that, domestic equities were raised to 55% from 45% and international, to 15% from 10%. Fixed income was reduced to 30% of the total fund from 45%.

    "To get a real return of 5%, you need to have 70% of the fund in equities," Mr. Maynard emphasized. As a result of his changes, the fund's assets have ballooned 400% in the past six years, to $5.6 billion from $2.1 billion.

    More recently, Idaho has hired Chadwick, Saylor & Co., Los Angeles, to act in an advisory capacity for the fund's real estate investments, Mr. Maynard said. It also has hired Hamilton Lane Advisors, Philadelphia, to oversee the private equity component. Mr. Maynard emphasized that to him, private real estate and private equity are similar, and he has asked Chadwick to integrate the two for the fund.

    The system also is about to hire Lend Lease Real Estate for a strategy that can move between public and private real estate, as the market dictates.

    "Pension funds don't integrate real estate with private equity, but as far as I'm concerned they are the same. Yet there are two different groups of people who analyze these, they each talk a different language, and it's hard to get an analysis across both asset classes that looks at risk-return," Mr. Maynard said.

    Paul Saylor, managing director at Chadwick, Saylor, agrees with Mr. Maynard. "Bob sees private real estate as part of private equity, and I've been saying that for 10 years."

    Mr. Maynard, he added, has an unconventional view of real estate, which is why the fund's performance in the portfolio is improving. "Bob doesn't want to just park his money in some real estate and then wait for years to see what happens. Instead, he wants superior performance from his real estate. And if he doesn't get it, he figures why bother to own it?" Mr. Saylor said.

    The Idaho CIO expects managers to look forward so trends and events can be anticipated, Mr. Saylor said. As a result, Chadwick Saylor is studying Idaho's remaining real estate positions to determine whether they should be held or sold.

    Chadwick Saylor primarily is a real estate boutique investment banking firm, but it has an investment management arm specializing in special situations, which is where the Idaho activity falls, Mr. Saylor explained.

    For his part, Mr. Maynard emphasized he never again would participate in blind commingled funds. He inherited them when he became CIO of the Idaho system six years ago.

    "There have been a lot of major changes in (the blind funds) since 1992," he griped. "Management changed radically at many. And the nature of core real estate was changed by the public markets. People owning core real estate (direct investments) were at a real disadvantage. REITs took off, while we were stuck with the commingled pools."

    In the past four years, Mr. Maynard got out of most of the real estate funds owned by Idaho, and put the money into U.S. equities. He's been particularly pleased, he said, with the results from recent sales of the real estate funds, as the market has improved. And now he's ready to expand real estate holdings again. "If a pension fund doesn't put at least 3% of assets into real estate, it can't support an infrastructure (consultant) to deal with it, so the board ignores it and it falls off the radar screen. We want to be back at that 3% so when the market settles down, we'll be ready to buy."

    Idaho will fund the real estate and private equity investments from its domestic equity holdings.

    Chadwick Saylor is authorized to bring Idaho investments and managers that fit the system's requirements, in terms of risk, return and cash flow, Mr. Maynard said. "Paul (Saylor) brought us Lend Lease."

    Mr. Maynard added he is interested in the real estate investment trust market now as valuations have fallen. He was in no rush to buy REITs before, because he felt they were overvalued.

    The private equity component is newer, and is just being built up, he added. "We have some limited partnerships and are adding new partnerships," Mr. Maynard said.

    He declined to name them, but said the Idaho strategy is to invest in later-stage projects. The fund does not have many investments in early seed ventures, nor does it buy into highly leveraged deals.

    Recommended for You
    Read the print edition of P&I
    Read the print edition of P&I
    Citadel's Ken Griffin gives $125 million to Chicago museum; name will change
    Citadel's Ken Griffin gives $125 million to Chicago museum; name will change
    Gender diversity is improving on FTSE 350 boards
    Gender diversity is improving on FTSE 350 boards
    Research for Institutional Money Management
    Sponsored Content: Research for Institutional Money Management

    Reader Poll

    January 25, 2023
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    The Future of Infrastructure: Building a Better Tomorrow
    Fulcrum Issues: Equity Returns and Inflation — Choose Your Own Adventure
    What Matters Most in Considering a Private Debt Strategy
    Why pursue direct lending in the core middle market?
    Research for Institutional Money Management
    Are Factors a Thing of the Past?
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    December 12, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Face to Face
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • WPS Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2023 Defined Contribution East
      • 2023 ESG Investing