Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee, hired Mercer as its public market implementation consultant and retained Hewitt EnnisKnupp as its general investment consultant, according to John Kuczwanski, FSBA communications manager.
The board, which oversees $158.9 billion in assets, plans to drop Wilshire Associates, its public markets implementation consultant, whose contract had been extended to Aug. 31.
The contracts of both Hewitt EnnisKnupp and Wilshire expired June 30.
Mercer’s hiring is pending contract negotiations.
The invitation to negotiate was issued in February.
The general consultant assists in developing investment policy, asset allocation, strategy and performance analysis, while the implementation consultant assists in evaluating, selecting and monitoring investment managers for public market investments.
Mercer last year announced plans to end its investment consulting to public-sector defined benefit plans.
Mr. Kuczwanski said the board was not able to comment on Mercer’s business plans.
Jeff Schutes, U.S. leader of Mercer Investment Consulting, said in a statement: “Mercer exited public fund DB retainer work after evaluating our overall risk and business strategy. However, due to our extensive resources and experience in the public fund space we will continue to consult on select projects, including DC work and DB work which is within our area of expertise and meets our standards for working with public fund clients going forward. We are excited and privileged to have the opportunity to work with (Florida) SBA.”