Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, Topeka, approved up to $135 million in commitments to two alternatives funds, said Kristen Basso, spokeswoman for the $18.8 billion pension fund, in an email.
The pension fund's board approved a commitment of up to $75 million to TPG Partners VIII, a small and midsize growth equity fund. The board also approved a commitment of up to $60 million to JPMCB Strategic Property Fund, an open-end real estate fund managed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
The commitments were approved at KPERS' May 18 board meeting.
The board also approved negotiating a new contract with Pension Consulting Alliance as the retirement system's general investment consultant for an initial term of three years, with optional renewals for an additional seven years. An RFP was issued in September.
Also at the meeting, the board approved changing the mandate for a BlackRock global inflation-linked bonds strategy to passive from active, still with BlackRock, and benchmarked to the Bloomberg Barclays World Government Inflation-Linked Bond (USD Hedged) index. The size of the portfolio was not available.
KPERS has a long-term allocation target of 8% to alternatives, according to documents on the pension fund's website.
