Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund allocated up to $212 million total to four managers, pending final due diligence and contract negotiations, said investment committee meeting minutes provided by the $4.2 billion pension fund.
The pension fund hired BlackRock to manage up to $60 million in its Total Factor Fund and up to $7 million in its China Opportunities Fund.
The Total Factor Fund is a multiasset-class mutual fund that will be included under the pension fund's hedge fund portfolio, said Ajit Singh, chief investment officer, in an email. The China Opportunities Fund will fall under the pension fund's international equities portfolio.
Separately, the pension fund committed up to $30 million to AE Industrial Partners Fund II, a buyout fund focused on the aerospace, power generation and specialty industrial sectors. It is a first-time relationship.
The pension fund also approved up to $115 million in additional commitments — an additional $100 million to KKR Global Credit Opportunities Fund, managed by KKR & Co., and an additional up to $15 million to Energy Trust Partners V, a natural resources fund. The pension fund previously committed $100 million to the KKR fund at the end of 2017 and $50 million to the Energy Trust Partners fund in 2016.
In other news, the pension fund terminated Ariel Investments as a midcap value equity manager and AllianceBernstein as a domestic equity manager. The terminations were not related to performance; the approaches did not fit with the pension fund's current investment strategy, Mr. Singh said. He did not provide further details.
The pension fund had $9 million invested each with Ariel and AllianceBernstein. Assets will be reallocated to cash.
