Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg, hired Baird Advisors and Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates to actively manage assets in a new conservative income fund within the retirement system's Deferred Compensation Program, said Pamela Hile, spokeswoman for the $27.3 billion retirement system.
The conservative income fund was established in June 2014 as an alternative to the stable value fund, which is being liquidated. The stable value fund is currently managed by Weaver C. Barksdale and had about $1 billion in assets as of Dec. 31.
Ninety percent of the total assets will be split evenly between the two managers, and the remaining 10% will be transferred to the $2.9 billion voluntary Deferred Compensation Program's money market fund managed by the Pennsylvania treasurer.
Separately, the pension fund returned 1.9% in the first quarter. Diversifying assets, including hedge funds, returned 3% for the quarter. Global public equities, meanwhile, returned 2.9%; alternatives, 2.4%; fixed income, 1.7%; cash reserves, 0.2%; and real assets, -0.8%.
Overall, investments generated $512 million net of fees during the quarter.
