Dallas Employees' Retirement Fund hired Ariel Investments, Ativo Capital Management and Smith, Graham & Co. Investment Advisers as "next generation" global equity, international equity and domestic midcap equity managers, respectively, recently released board meeting minutes show.
An RFP for "next generation" managers, defined as majority women- or minority-owned, was issued in April.
Ariel and Smith, Graham will each manage 2% of the total pension fund portfolio, and Ativo, 1%. The pension fund had $3.6 billion in assets as of Oct. 31, equaling about $72 million each for Smith, Graham and Ariel and $36 million for Ativo.
Funding for Ariel will come from a Northern Trust Asset Management global equity index fund, which the pension fund had $93 million invested in as of Oct. 31. Funding for Ativo will come from existing international equity manager Barings' $232 million portfolio, and funding for Smith, Graham & Co. will come from a Northern Trust S&P 500 index fund, which the pension fund had $226 million invested in as of Oct. 31.
Cheryl Alston, the pension fund's executive director, could not immediately be reached for additional information.
