Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, Topeka, plans to issue RFPs this month for managers to run a $1.7 billion Russell 1000 index fund; a portion of a $250 million portable alpha mandate; a TIPS index low-tracking-error portfolio; and a domestic smidcap equity manager, said CIO Robert “Vince” Smith.
The Russell 1000 fund has been managed by the $14.1 billion system’s staff, while the portable alpha portfolio is run by Nomura Asset Management and Payden & Rygel; they will not be terminated. Mr. Smith said system officials are seeking to bolster the fund’s diversification. The TIPS search results from system officials moving the $1.3 billion TIPS portfolio to a real return allocation, with funding coming from an in-house portfolio that invests in the three longest-maturity TIPS; the amount of the mandate has not been set. Funding for the smidcap mandate will come from one of BGI’s two small-cap enhanced index portfolios, one growth and one value, which have a total of $170 million.
The RFPs will appear on the system’s website at http://www.kpers.org/procurement.htm later this month.
