City of Milwaukee Employes’ Retirement System named Cohen & Steers, Principal Financial Group, State Street Global Advisors and Wellington Management as finalists for a $150 million allocation to real assets, said David M. Silber, chief investment officer.
The allocation is the $5 billion system’s first move into the asset class outside of its existing private-market real estate portfolio. The CMERS board plans to hire one manager, Mr. Silber said.
The board is scheduled to make a decision Thursday. “The intention of the board is to hire a manager that would provide us with a broad based-exposure” to real assets, Mr. Silber said.
The managers offer diversified real asset portfolios that include commodities, publicly listed infrastructure, natural resources, real estate investment trusts and Treasury inflation-protected securities.
The hiring would complete the system’s 3% target to real assets, Mr. Silber said. It has a 7% allocation to real estate. Funding would come from a fixed-income rebalancing, although board hasn’t identified the areas, Mr. Silber said.
Callan Associates, CMERS’ investment consultant, assisted.
