The California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, is searching for a private equity strategic partner, said spokesman John Osborn in an email.
The search is being conducted as part of the $348.7 billion pension fund's ongoing review of its $40.2 billion private equity program, Mr. Osborn said. That figure includes $14.3 billion in unfunded commitments as of June 30.
Meketa Investment Group is the current private equity consultant.
Requests for information were sent to a number of firms with a deadline of Jan. 19
The RFI was dated Dec. 21.
Finalist interviews are scheduled for March 19 and April 16 with a decision sometime after.
Mr. Obsorn declined to comment on which firms CalPERS asked to respond, and whether other firms can respond.
"CalPERS desires to create a collaborative partnership where the partner has investment discretion, but works with CalPERS' private equity staff in the development of an annual allocation plan that CalPERS will approve," according to a copy of the RFI provided by CalPERS.
To maintain its 8% private equity target, the pension fund requires annual private equity commitments between $7 billion and $10 billion.
To achieve those commitment levels, the pension fund intends to significantly grow its co-investments, separately managed accounts and secondary investments, the RFI said.
The strategic partner will collaborate with CalPERS on ways to expand the private equity portfolio.
The RFI comes about a month after Meketa released an annual review of CalPERS' private equity program, which argued recent structural changes, including reducing the pension fund's number of private equity managers to 30, could impact CalPERS' ability to meet its goals.
Meketa replaced Pension Consulting Alliance as CalPERS' private equity consultant in March.
