Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, Columbus, hired MacKay Shields to run $300 million in global high-yield fixed income, and three hedge funds to run another $300 million, confirmed spokesman Michael Pramik.
The $73 billion pension fund increased its allocation to global high-yield bonds to 1.5% from 1% in January.
Funding for the MacKay Shields hire comes from the retirement system's core fixed-income subasset class. No managers were terminated, according to Mr. Pramik.
Also, direct hedge fund investments of $100 million each to were made to Gracie Credit Opportunities Fund, a credit/relative value fund managed by Gracie Asset Management; Highline Capital Partners QP, a long/short equity fund; and Third Point Partners Qualified, an event-driven fund.
The commitments bring total direct hedge fund investments by the pension fund to $2.18 billion.
