Texas Employees Retirement System, Austin, and strategic partner PAAMCO Prisma have made their first seed investment in newly formed long/short equity manager Cinctive Capital Management, ERS spokeswoman Mary Jane Wardlow confirmed in an email.
The amount of the investment by the $28.7 billion pension fund and PAAMCO Prisma, made in a strategic alliance called PAAMCO Launchpad, is not being disclosed, Ms. Wardlow said.
PAAMCO Launchpad was formed in June 2018 to provide seed capital to emerging hedge fund managers. ERS was the first investor to sign on to the platform.
Cinctive Capital Management announced its launch Tuesday with a total of $1 billion in commitments in a news release, touting its "multimanager investment approach with sector teams practicing fundamental stock picking and incorporating proprietary quantitative tools backed by a robust approach to risk management."
The firm is led by co-founders Richard Schimel, most recently at Citadel equities unit Aptigon Capital, and Lawrence Sapanski, formerly chief investment officer at long/short equity manager Scoria Capital.
As of July 31, ERS' allocation to hedge funds was 3.3%.