Santa Barbara County (Calif.) Employees' Retirement System hired PGIM Fixed Income to manage about $181 million in active domestic core-plus fixed income, said Lauren Thompson, investment officer, in an email.
The $3 billion pension fund conducted a search for a core-plus manager to replace Guggenheim Investments, which was originally hired in June 2017 following an RFP process begun in March 2017. The reason for the termination was not immediately available. However, Guggenheim in February announced it would be transferring the ownership of its quantitative strategies unit, which manages investment-grade bonds, to Marcos Lopez de Prado, a senior managing director of the firm and founder of the business.
Manulife Asset Management was the other finalist in the search.
The pension fund allocated the portfolio within its core fixed-income allocation, which had an actual allocation of 15.3% as of March 31; the target is 17%. The two other managers are intermediate fixed-income manager BlackRock and core fixed-income manager Garcia Hamilton & Associates, which run $229 million and $46 million, respectively.
Investment consultant RVK assisted.
Ms. Thompson was not immediately available to provide further information.
