Michigan Municipal Employees’ Retirement System, Lansing, hired Reams Asset Management to run $188 million in high-yield securities. It is the first dedicated high-yield position for the fund, said Jeb Burns, director of investments. The $3.8 billion plan recently revised its asset allocation structure to allow up to 5% of total assets to be invested in high-yield bonds. The allocation to core bonds was reduced to 27% from 31.2%.
The high-yield bond mandate will come from reducing a TCW portfolio of convertible bonds by $44 million, reducing the allocation to 5% of total assets from 6.2%; and a $144 million shift from Reams’ core bond portfolio, which has totaled $550 million, Mr. Burns said.
