Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System, Little Rock, is searching for a core-plus fixed-income manager to run about $400 million, said Carlos Borromeo, chief investment officer, in an e-mail.
The search is being conducted to reduce investment manager risk and further diversify the fixed-income portfolio, Mr. Borromeo wrote.
The pension fund is currently invested with two core-plus managers — MacKay Shields and Prudential Fixed Income.
As of June 30, MacKay Shields managed $824 million total across two core-plus strategies and Prudential managed $417 million in one strategy, according to the pension fund’s most recent annual report.
The new core-plus manager will replace one of the MacKay Shields strategies, Mr. Borromeo said.
No RFP will be issued. Investment consultant Callan Associates is handling the search. Interested firms can register in Callan’s manager database on the firm’s website.
A hiring decision could be made in November.
The pension fund has approximately $7.6 billion in assets.
