Oklahoma Teachers’ Retirement System, Oklahoma City, will select its first real estate manager based on the selected firm’s core or core-plus strategy in an open-end commingled fund, confirmed James Wilbanks, executive secretary for the $8.5 billion fund.
Mr. Wilbanks said in a telephone interview that the system reviewed the 34 qualified responses it received from a broad real estate manager RFP issued in March, and narrowed the focus of the search based on the recommendation of internal investment staff and by consultant gregory.w.group. The search is now closed, and a selection is expected by the system’s Aug. 25 board meeting.
He said the search was the “first step” in the system’s move toward real estate, but it may later pursue a dedicated REIT manager, opportunistic strategies and real estate debt.
“We’re going to take our time building this out,” he said.
He said the system will determine details of its real estate investments once it completes an asset allocation study in July. The real estate asset class is expected to be between 5% and 10% of the overall portfolio, he said.
Separately, equities manager Advisory Research was removed from the system’s “on alert” status for improved performance. The manager actively runs $320 million in all-cap value domestic equities.
Capital Guardian remains “on alert” through December 2010 for performance of its $320 million in international growth equities portfolio.
