The Idaho Endowment Fund Investment Board, Boise, decided to defer consideration of adding alternatives to its portfolio until 2009, said Larry Johnson, manager of investments for the $1.2 billion fund. In the meantime, board officials will do an analysis of the existing portfolio looking for “unintended correlations and biases,” he said. The board decided at a meeting Thursday to wait until the analysis is conducted before proceeding, Mr. Johnson said. The fund’s asset mix was 50.6% domestic equities, 16.1% international equities, 31.3% fixed income, 2% cash, as of Jan. 31, according to its website.
Separately, the board is recommending that the $580 million State Insurance Fund and the $62 million Judges’ Retirement Fund portfolios move $15 million and $9 million, respectively, in international equities to passive management from active. Tradewinds is the current international equity manager for the funds. The board is recommending the move because having one active manager subjects the funds to variation and style bias. “There’s too much concentration,” Mr. Johnson said.
Mr. Johnson said the board is contacting index managers. No consultant is being used.