Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System, Oklahoma City, along with its investment consultant, Gregory W. Group, is working on an exploratory RFP for active international equity managers, said Tom Spencer, executive director, in an e-mail.
Approximately $918 million of the pension fund's total international large-cap equity portfolio is passively managed by Northern Trust Asset Management. The remaining $545 million is actively managed by Causeway Capital Management. The pension fund also has roughly $823 million total invested with four active small-cap international equity managers.
The $14.4 billion pension fund is not targeting a particular strategy and there is no projected allocation, Mr. Spencer said.
“We want to get managers' best ideas, whether it covers the developed space, emerging markets or frontier markets,” Mr. Spencer wrote.
Any new managers will be funded from Northern Trust's passive allocation. The board might choose to keep a portion of international equity assets passively invested, Mr. Spencer wrote.
The exploratory RFP will be available on the pension fund's website and the National Association of State Retirement Administrators' website. There is no targeted release date.
Separately, the pension fund hired Northern Trust to provide custodial, securities lending and commission recapture services. An RFP was issued in October because of the June 30 contract expiration of incumbent provider J.P. Morgan Chase, which was the other finalist.
The pension fund also hired McGladrey to provide external audit services for up to five years. An RFP was issued in November because of the upcoming contract expiration of incumbent auditor Cole & Reed. McGladrey acquired Cole & Reed at the end of 2014. The other finalist was Eide Bailly.
