New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, made commitments and investments totaling up to $1.45 billion and terminated three money managers handling more than $1 billion in domestic equity, said the website of the state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, sole trustee of the $178.3 billion pension fund.
The pension fund hired Eagle Capital Management to run $500 million in domestic large-cap equity and Wellington Management to run $400 million in the Wellington Real Total Return Fund, which applies a multiasset strategy “that invests in diversified beta exposure and alpha strategies,” according to the Wellington website.
The pension fund also committed up to $550 million total in private equity and real estate:
- $300 million to Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners VIII, a buyout fund. Matthew Sweeney, a spokesman for Mr. DiNapoli, said in an e-mail that the pension fund had made a total of $920 million in commitments to six other Hellman & Friedman funds in the past.
- Up to $200 million to CIM Fund VIII, an urban real estate fund managed by CIM Group. The pension fund has made commitments to two other CIM Group funds in the past, Mr. Sweeney wrote.
- $50 million to Asia Alternatives Capital Partners IV, which Mr. Sweeney described as “a fund of funds formed to invest primarily in private equity funds investing in Asian markets.” He added that the pension fund had previously made commitments totaling $300 million in four Asia Alternatives Management funds and separate accounts.
Separately, the pension fund terminated three domestic equity managers that managed a total of slightly more than $1 billion and reduced two international equity managers’ allocations by a total of $1 billion.
Each termination was based on the manager’s’ performance and a change in the pension fund’s asset allocation strategy, Mr. Sweeney said.
The terminations are:
- New Amsterdam Partners, midcap, $430 million;
- Globeflex Capital, midcap, $415 million; and
- Steinberg Asset Management, all cap, $200 million.
All three terminations were separate accounts, and the money was allocated to cash, Mr. Sweeney wrote. The managers were terminated in September. Executives from each of the money managers didn’t return calls for comment by press time.
The pension fund also reduced international equity strategies managed by Morgan Stanley by $700 million, leaving it with $1.54 billion, and Baring Asset Management by $300 million, leaving it with $901 million.
Mr. Sweeney wrote that the reductions were due to the pension fund changing its asset allocation strategy, but he didn’t provide details.
