Chicago Laborers’ Annuity & Benefit Fund hired Progress Investment Management to run $100 million in the $1.4 billion pension fund’s manager of emerging managers program.
The hiring is pending contract negotiations, according to recently released minutes of the pension fund’s July 15 board meeting.
The board in March had delayed interviews with eight managers that had originally bid for the portfolio, and issued an addendum to its RFP asking the firms for their global equity performance on the recommendation of investment consultant NEPC before interviewing the firms.
The original RFP, issued Jan. 6, had sought only long-only equity managers of managers, and only some of the responding managers gave broad ranges of strategy capabilities.
Firms that responded to the original RFP along with Progress were Attucks Asset Management, Bivium Capital Partners, Capital Prospects, FIS Group, Leading Edge Investment Advisors, Legato Capital Management and Rock Creek Group.
Aileen Pecora, interim executive director, could not be reached by press time for further information. Efforts to reach NEPC were unsuccessful.
