Illinois Teachers' Retirement System, Springfield, terminated Ariel Capital Management for performance of a $215 million midcap to small-cap value mandate, said Eva Golterman, public information officer for the $36.8 billion system. Peter Thompson, executive vice president at Ariel, said company officials are "really surprised to lose this client at this time. We have a very conservative approach which does well when markets are down. We aren't supposed to do well during periods when the market skyrockets, as it has in the past couple of years. We wouldn't expect to keep up with this sort of market. Our logo is a turtle, after all."
Assets from Ariel will be parked in a Russell 2500 value index account managed by SSgA, pending a search. RFP details will be posted June 15 on the TRS website at http://trs.illinois.gov/. Further details were not available.
Separately, the system hired Tygh Capital Management to run $400 million in active domestic small-cap growth equities. Funding came from reducing two portfolios managed in the same style: $260 million from one run by Delaware Investments and $140 from one managed by State Street Global Advisors, leaving each with $400 million.
