Ventura (Calif.) County Employee Retirement Association is seeking a manager to run a $150 million international equity portfolio, replacing Brinson Partners, which was terminated for performance reasons and concerns about organizational changes, said Van Perris, retirement administrator for the $2.2 billion pension fund. Consultant InvestorForce will bring a shortlist of managers to the May board meeting. No RFP is being issued. Brinson officials were not available for comment.
Separately, the fund approved changes to its consulting contract with InvestorForce, retaining the former Asset Strategy Consulting and halving its annual retainer fee to $80,000.
However, the board declined to allow InvestorForce to charge a 5% finder’s fee for the international equity search and said it will deal with the controversial fee issue on a case by case basis, Mr. Perris said. The board had concerns over perceived conflicts of interest resulting from InvestorForce’s collecting fees from both the pension fund and any manager selected in an online search, he explained.
