Oklahoma Teachers’ Retirement System, Oklahoma City, is searching for one or more passive equity managers, said Tom Spencer, executive director of the $15 billion pension fund, in an email.
The selected firm or firms must be “capable of managing a full array of index products across various asset classes and weighting schemes,” and will be the pension fund’s dedicated index managers for temporary mandates to retain asset class exposure and long-term strategic mandates, according to the RFP.
The pension fund would like to hire one manager but could hire more depending on the proposals received. All index investments should be held in separate accounts. The pension fund “does not desire to use comingled vehicle index investments except in limited circumstances where it is clearly advantageous or a necessity,” according to the RFP.
Allocations and funding sources have not been determined.
The pension fund expects to post the RFP on its website sometime Monday. Proposals are due by 4:30 p.m. CDT on June 6. A timeline for a hiring decision wasn’t provided.
Separately, the pension fund put two domestic small-cap equity managers “on alert,” Mr. Spencer said. Being put on alert is a step below being placed “on notice,” which is the last step before termination.
Cove Street Capital was put on alert for performance on a value strategy, Mr. Spencer said. Shapiro Capital Management was put on alert for an ownership change — American Beacon Advisors announced in February that it would be acquiring a majority interest in the firm.
As of March 31, the pension fund had $126.8 million invested in the Cove Street strategy and just more than $800 million with Shapiro.
A Cove Street spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
