New Mexico State Investment Council, Santa Fe, will begin a search for a hedge fund consultant in the coming weeks, said Charles Wollmann, spokesman for the $20.5 billion endowment plans.
The council voted Tuesday to approve a request for proposals based on staff recommendation to reduce the number of hedge funds in the portfolio to 20 from the current 47 underlying funds in hedge fund-of-funds portfolios.
The chosen consultant will assist the council in selecting hedge funds into which the council will make direct investments. The council doesn’t currently have a hedge fund consultant. Mr. Wollmann said the RFP will likely be issued in the coming weeks, or shortly after the beginning of 2016.
As a result of the move to direct investments, the council will terminate Aetos Capital, Crestline Investors and Mariner Investment Group from hedge funds-of-funds portfolios totaling $463 million, $432 million and $466 million, respectively.
The council will also terminate Aetos Capital from an $821 million credit and structured fund-of-funds portfolio within the council’s fixed-income portfolio, primarily to save on management fees. How those funds will be reallocated has yet to be determined.
