Illinois State Universities Retirement System, Champaign, terminated Calamos Investments and Herndon Capital Management, which together managed $500 million.
Calamos, which managed $340.2 million in global equities, was terminated for “persistent turnover in key staffing levels and decline in assets under management (in) the strategy.” Herndon, which managed $159.4 million in non-U.S. developed markets equities, was terminated for performance reasons, said Daniel L. Allen, chief investment officer, in an e-mail.
SURS, which oversees a $16.3 billion defined benefit fund, reallocated assets from Calamos into an existing cash overlay managed by Parametric Portfolio Associates, maintaining the proceeds for potential liquidity needs, Mr. Allen said.
Herndon’s assets were split evenly between Ativo Capital Management, which previously managed $133 million in an active equity strategy benchmarked to the MSCI All-Country World index, ex-U.S., and Strategic Global Advisors, which had $165.7 million in active international equities before the addition.
Herndon has been on watch since December 2013. Calamos was put on watch in September 2012 for performance and organizational issues.
Jennifer McGuffin, Calamos spokeswoman, and Kenneth Holley, Herndon principal, portfolio manager and chief investment officer, couldn’t be reached for comment.
NEPC, the pension fund’s investment consultant, assisted in the changes.
