Imperial County Employees’ Retirement System, El Centro, Calif., hired BlackRock to manage about $60 million in passive domestic all-cap equities, said Regina Rodrigues, interim retirement administrator.
The $650 million pension fund hired BlackRock to manage a Russell 3000 index fund as a result of the board’s decision to move its entire domestic equity portfolio, and a portion of its international equity portfolio, to passive investments. The remainder of the pension fund’s domestic equity portfolio, about $166 million, is in a BlackRock Russell 1000 index fund.
Ms. Rodrigues said the pension fund’s board “believed over time that active management wasn’t paying for itself.” As a result, the pension fund terminated T. Rowe Price Group from a $28 million active domestic small-cap value equity portfolio, TimesSquare Capital Management from a $32 million active domestic midcap growth equity portfolio, and Franklin Templeton Investments from a $62 million active international equity pTempleton Investments from a $62 million active international equity portfolio.
The Franklin Templeton assets were moved to an existing BlackRock passive international equity portfolio, giving that portfolio a total of $126Templeton assets were moved to an existing BlackRock passive international equity portfolio, giving that portfolio a total of $126 million.
Ms. Rodrigues said the terminations were not due to individual manager performance.
Investment consultant Verus assisted.