Montana Board of Investments, Helena, hired four new domestic small-cap and midcap equity managers to run a total of $125 million and made three private equity commitments since its last board meeting, according to documents prepared for the Wednesday board meeting.
The board, which oversees $8.5 billion in pension assets, hired Iridian Asset Management and Nicholas Co. to manage $40 million each in midcap value and growth, respectively. It also hired Metropolitan West Asset Management to run $25 million in small-cap value and ING Investment Management to run $20 million in small-cap growth.
The board approved last May to further diversify active management within the small-cap and midcap allocation, among other changes within the $3.3 billion domestic equity portfolio.
Funding comes from reducing the allocations to three midcap and three small-cap managers. A BlackRock midcap index fund was reduced by $40 million to about $75 million; Artisan Partners midcap value and TimesSquare Capital Management midcap growth reduced by $20 million each to $115 million each; BlackRock small-cap index cut in half to $10 million; Vaughan Nelson small-cap value, $20 million to $65 million; and Dimensional Fund Advisors small-cap core, down $15 million to $72 million.
Separately, the board committed $25 million to CCMP Capital Investors III, a buyout fund managed by CCMP Capital Advisors, and $20 million to Affinity Asia Pacific Fund IV, a buyout fund managed by Affinity Equity Partners.
It also committed an additional $5 million to Dover Street VIII, a secondary private equity fund managed by HarbourVest Partners. The board previously committed $20 million to the fund.
Also, Hansberger Global Investors' $105 million active international large-cap growth equity strategy was placed on watch for performance. Bev Hendry, chief operating officer, and Matt DiNallo, vice president, client service, did not respond to requests for comment.
