Houston Firefighters' Relief & Retirement Fund approved up to $85 million total in equity and real estate investments, said investment committee meeting minutes provided by Ajit Singh, chief investment officer.
The $3.7 billion pension fund will invest up to $30 million total in a 75%/25% blend of two BlackRock iShares U.S. exchange-traded funds — the U.S. Large-Cap Diversified Multi-Factor ETF and the U.S. Small-Cap Diversified Multi-Factor ETF — pending final legal negotiations.
The pension fund will also invest up to $30 million total in a 75/25 blend of two iShares international ETFs — the MSCI World ex U.S. Multi-Factor ETF and the MSCI Emerging Market Diversified Multi-Factor ETF— also pending final legal negotiations.
No existing managers will be terminated as a result, Mr. Singh wrote in an e-mail.
In real estate, the pension fund committed up to $25 million to AEW Senior Housing Investors III, a value-added fund managed by AEW Capital Management, pending final due diligence and contract negotiations. AEW Capital Management is a new relationship for the pension fund.
Separately, the pension fund terminated international equity manager EARNEST Partners.
Mr. Singh declined to provide further information on Earnest Partners.
An EARNEST Partners official could not immediately be reached for comment.
The pension fund has domestic equity, international equity and real estate targets of 17%, 17% and 7%, respectively.
