Iowa Municipal Fire & Police Retirement System, West Des Moines, plans to search this summer for a manager to run $75 million most likely in core-plus fixed income, said Terry Slattery, executive director.
The $2.1 billion pension fund hasn’t determined when this summer the search will begin. Mr. Slattery expects the board to make a hiring decision in the fall.
Summit Strategies Group, the pension fund’s investment consultant, is still developing an allocation strategy to present to the board and could possibly recommend a core portfolio, although Mr. Slattery is “pretty certain” it will be core-plus.
Under the search process, the board expects Summit to present finalists selected from its database for interviews, Mr. Slattery said.
The pension fund has no plans to issue an RFP.
The search process is open to all potentially qualified managers, which have to apply for inclusion in Summit’s database for consideration in the search, Mr. Slattery said.
Funding will come from a $75 million Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond index fund, managed by State Street Global Advisors. The assets were parked in the index fund after the pension fund terminated a Treasury inflation-protected securities index fund, also managed by SSgA.
“We figured it would be better to have it actively managed in a core-plus mandate,” Mr. Slattery said of the proceeds. “Until we do, we think it’s better to have its parked” in the aggregate index fund.
The pension fund expects to terminate the SSgA index fund once the board hires an active fixed-income manager, Mr. Slattery said.
