Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, Pasadena, Calif., moved up its schedule to search for a general investment consultant in light of personnel changes at incumbent Wilshire Associates, said David Kushner, chief investment officer of the $48 billion pension fund.
William G. Bensur Jr., a managing director at Wilshire and lead consultant for LACERA, left the firm in January. Patrick Lighaam, managing director, was chosen as LACERA’s lead consultant.
“While the loss of Mr. Bensur is significant, staff’s initial assessment of the proposed replacement is positive, particularly in light of the asset allocation study expected to commence in March 2015,” a staff memo states.
Under its prior schedule, pension fund officials planned to search for a private equity consultant in February and then for a general investment consultant sometime in June. The general consultant search will now be first. The timing for an RFP for the general consultant search has not been determined. Wilshire will be invited to rebid.
Separately, LACERA hired TCW Group and DoubleLine Capital to manage $200 million each in securitized credit allocations. It also named Brookfield Investment Management as a backup manager for the same allocation.
Pension fund officials also committed up to $200 million to small- and middle-market buyout fund Carlyle U.S. Equity Opportunity Fund II, managed by The Carlyle Group; and up to $50 million to venture capital fund Storm Ventures Fund V. LACERA has invested with The Carlyle Group in the past. It is the pension fund’s first commitment to a Storm Ventures fund.
