Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, Little Rock, committed up to $50 million to UBS AgriVest Farmland Fund, confirmed George Hopkins, executive director of the pension fund.
The open-end fund, managed by UBS Global Asset Management, targets equity investments in low-risk farmland properties in the U.S. The strategy is expected to lower the $13 billion pension fund's exposure to commodity price risk or crop failure.
Separately, the pension fund transferred $100 million from the $480 million Allianz Structured Alpha U.S. Equity 250 portfolio to the Allianz Structured Alpha U.S. Equity 500 strategy, a new portfolio. The 250 and 500 represent basis points of tracking error compared to the S&P 500. The strategy uses put and call options on a variety of indexes.
