University of Missouri System, Columbia, hired Reams Asset Management to run $107 million in an unconstrained fixed-income strategy for the system’s $3.3 billion defined benefit plan, said Thomas Richards, treasurer and chief investment officer, in an e-mail.
The hire was made “given the yield curve at this point in time, we feel that unconstrained strategies offer the best opportunities. That belief may change as markets evolve,” Mr. Richards said.
Funding comes from portfolios managed by Pacific Investment Management Co., which as of June 30 managed $218 million for the DB plan and $57 million for the $1.3 billion endowment fund in global fixed income, and $107 million for the DB plan and $20 million for the endowment fund in Treasury inflation-protected securities.
Mr. Richards did not specify how much would come from each PIMCO portfolio but added the decision to fund the Reams hire with funds from PIMCO had “nothing to do with recent events” at the firm, since discussions with Reams began last year.
Separately, the system committed $90 million, including $75 million in co-investments, to Asia Alternatives Capital Partners IV, a private equity fund of funds managed by Asia Alternatives Management.
The system committed a total of $60 million from the defined benefit plan and $30 million from the system’s $1.3 billion endowment fund.
Also, the system committed $20 million from the DB plan and $15 million from the endowment fund to Angelo Gordon Core Plus Realty Fund IV, a real estate fund managed by Angelo Gordon & Co., and committed $10 million each from the DB plan and endowment fund to real estate fund Harrison Street Core Property Fund.
