Louisiana Firefighters signs QMA for active smidcap account

Louisiana Firefighters' Retirement System, Baton Rouge, hired Quantitative Management Associates to run $53 million in active domestic smidcap equities, said recently released board meeting minutes.

The $1.7 billion pension fund issued an RFP in August. The other finalists were Fidelity Institutional Asset Management and Great Lakes Advisors.

The funding source was not disclosed; according to its investment report, the pension fund's two smidcap equity managers as of Dec. 31 were Advisory Research and Rothschild Asset Management, which ran $36 million and $70 million, respectively. The smidcap equity target is 8%; as of Dec. 31, the actual allocation was 7.4%. The pension fund also includes a $17 million investment in Orleans Capital Management's Energy Opportunities Fund in the smidcap allocation.

Separately, the pension fund named GAM, Loomis Sayles & Co., and Payden & Rygel as finalists in a search for an absolute-return fixed-income manager to run about $60 million.

The pension fund issued an RFP in October for a manager to complement current core fixed-income managers, the RFP said. The current managers are BlackRock (BLK) and Orleans Capital Management, which ran portfolios of $210 million and $68 million, respectively, as of Dec. 31, according to the investment report. The fixed-income target is 23%; as of Dec. 31, the actual allocation was 20.6%.

Michael Becker, chief investment officer, could not be reached immediately to provide further information.