San Francisco City & County Employees’ Retirement System plans to issue an RFP next week for a global bond manager to handle $636 million, said Richard Piket, senior investment officer-fixed income. Incumbents Brinson Partners and Merrill Lynch Mercury Asset Management, running $401 million and $235 million, respectively, will be invited to rebid. Initial responses likely will be due by April 21.
Separately, the $12 billion pension fund picked Western Asset Management for a $650 million domestic core-plus portfolio. Partial funding will come from Scudder, Stevens & Clark, whose $400 million corporate bond portfolio will be dropped. Oaktree and W.R. Huff, which run $180 million and $157 million in high-yield bonds, respectively, for the fund, will see their mandates reduced over time. Scudder was not picked for the revamped mandate in part because of organizational changes at the firm, said Mr. Piket, noting the fund had been satisfied with the firm’s performance.
