City of Baton Rouge (La.) and Parish of East Baton Rouge Employees' Retirement System posted an 11.8% return on investments in 2004, said Brian Mayers, member of the retirement board and city treasurer. He said the $871 million retirement system outperformed its 7.75% assumed rate of return. The fund has 68.2% of its assets invested in equities and 31.8% in fixed income.
Mr. Mayers said the board is contemplating allocating about $26 million to an active domestic small-cap manager, the first in the asset class. Funding would come from existing small-to-midcap and midcap managers, but no manager would be terminated, according to Mr. Mayers. He added the board will work with consultant Summit Strategies to compile a list of candidates if they decide to proceed with the allocation, but there is no timeframe for a selection.
