LACERA puts up to $250 million in multistrategy fund, plans asset allocation review

Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, Pasadena, Calif., in closed session invested up to $250 million in HBK Multi-Strategy Fund, a multistrategy hedge fund managed by HBK Capital Management, said John R. Harrington, staff counsel for the $54.8 billion pension plan.

This is LACERA's first direct investment with HBK. The pension plan has a 3.4% target allocation to hedge funds, with $1.4 billion invested as of Nov. 30

Separately, LACERA is scheduled to launch an asset allocation study in February. Possible new allocations to be reviewed are real assets, including infrastructure, master limited partnerships, timber, real estate investment trusts, farmland, natural resources, and Treasury inflation-protected securities, as well as credit. LACERA already has some exposure to credit through its fixed-income, private equity, real estate and hedge fund portfolios but officials could consider separating credit into a separate asset class to make it easier to make opportunistic investments, according to report to the board by Meketa Investment Group, LACERA's general investment consultant.