Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System, Oklahoma City, hired Cortina Asset Management to run $50 million in a domestic small-cap growth equity strategy, confirmed Steven Snyder, executive director and chief investment officer.
Cortina's strategy will also have a microcap element, Mr. Snyder said. Apex Capital Management and Loomis Sayles & Co. were also finalists. Funding comes from William Blair & Co., which managed about $103 million in a similar strategy. William Blair did not rebid on the RFP, Mr. Snyder said. Mr. Snyder previously said there were not any performance issues with William Blair, and that investment consultant Asset Consulting Group recommended issuing an RFP to see what other strategies were available.
The $2.1 billion pension fund is overweight small-cap equity. The remaining $53 million of William Blair's portfolio will be parked in a U.S. small-cap growth index fund managed by Mellon Capital Management, bringing the firm's total assets run for the pension fund to $430 million. The assets will be used to partially fund real estate and commodities searches in the first or second quarter of next year. The plan has a 15% target to real assets, but only about 5.7% invested.
