Orange County Employees Retirement System, Santa Ana, Calif., is searching for international direct lending managers, said spokesman Robert Kinsler.
The pension fund is looking for a European fund focused on senior secured and unitranche lending, either primary or secondary, and an Asia-Pacific regional lending fund, preferably diversified with limited exposure to mainland China. An Asian emerging markets direct lending fund might also be considered. All strategies must be denominated in U.S. dollars.
Commitment sizes are not finalized. However, the pension fund has the ability to fund several hundred million dollars to the strategies, Mr. Kinsler said.
The $12.6 billion pension fund has a 14% target allocation to diversified credit mandates and has already committed $850 million to direct lending, half of which is invested with international managers.
OCERS’ existing international direct lending managers — Hayfin Capital Management, Cross Ocean, Park Square Capital, BlueBay Asset Management and OCP Asia — are invited to bid, the RFP said.
The RFP is available on the pension fund’s website. Proposals are due by noon PDT on Sept. 21, with finalist presentations in late November and a hiring decision expected in early December.
To take advantage of aggregate pricing, other public pension fund chief investment officers may choose to participate in the selection process, the RFP notes. The pension fund declined to comment on the other interested funds.
Investment consultant NEPC is assisting.
