Santa Barbara County (Calif.) Employees' Retirement System hired Garcia Hamilton & Associates and Guggenheim Investments to manage $127.5 million each in core- and core-plus fixed income, respectively.
Funding for Garcia Hamilton and Guggenheim will come from the termination of existing core and core-plus fixed income managers Schroder Investment Management ($114 million) and Reams Asset Management ($141 million).
RFPs were issued in March as the result of a fixed-income structure study. "The goal of the RFP was to identify managers who would best fulfill the role of capital preservation with volatility reduction," said a news release on the $2.6 billion pension fund's website.
Schroders and Reams did rebid, said a spokeswoman in an email.
"SBCERS appreciates the service of Schroders, STW and Reams and would consider both firms again in future searches," the pension fund added in the release.
The pension fund's fixed-income target is 28%.
