San Francisco City & County Employees' Retirement System is searching for a real assets consultant and committed a total of $115 million to three alternatives funds, confirmed Robert Shaw, interim deputy director of investments.
The investment policy was revised in 2011 to include real assets. The pension plan has a 12% target allocation to real assets, but is only invested in real estate now. Townsend Group is the $17.2 billion pension fund's real estate consultant and can bid for the real asset consulting post.
Townsend's contract expires June 30 and likely will be extended until a hiring decision is made, Mr. Shaw said in a telephone interview. The real asset consultant position will replace the real estate-only consultant.
The RFP will be posted on the plan's website by the end of the week. Proposals are due May 31, with a hiring decision expected in August or September.
Separately, the pension fund committed $50 million to Vista Foundation Fund II, a small- to middle-market buyout fund managed by Vista Equity Partners; $40 million to Berkshire Multifamily Value Plus Fund III, a multifamily real estate fund managed by Berkshire Property Advisors; and $25 million to Ares Capital Europe II, a European middle-market debt fund.
It is the pension fund's first commitments to all three managers, Mr. Shaw said.
Also, the board terminated a BlackRock active currency overlay strategy with a notional value of $500 million for performance and organizational changes, Mr. Shaw said. The overlay was reallocated to currency managers FX Concepts and Adrian Lee & Partners. BlackRock spokesmen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The board also approved restructuring Oaktree Capital Management's $340 million high-yield bond strategy to a global portfolio from mostly U.S.
