San Francisco City & County Employees’ Retirement System terminated Ark Asset Management for underperformance, said Clare Murphy, executive director of the $12 billion fund. Ark had managed a $180 million large-cap value equity portfolio, which had been reduced ‘‘many times’’ from a peak of $529 million in August 1997, she said. A spokeswoman for Ark declined to comment.
The assets will be part of $222 million reallocated from U.S. equities to other asset categories and to fund benefit payments. The remainder will be trimmed from other portfolios: $28 million from a REIT managed by AMB Property, and $7 million each from the fund’s internally managed index fund and a U.S. large-cap growth portfolio run by Dresdner RCM.
Of the reallocated assets, $8 million will be added to real estate portfolios run by existing managers RREEF and INVESCO; nearly $51 million will go to fund previous commitments made to alternative investments; and $133 million will go to funding a new core domestic bond manager, which will be picked next month. There is a shortlist of potential managers. The rest of the money will pay for benefits.
