Chicago Park Employees' Annuity & Benefit Fund terminated Mesirow Financial from a $10 million active core fixed-income portfolio.
The $318 million pension fund's board approved the termination of the manager at its April 15 meeting after voting to reduce its target allocation to fixed income to 17.5% from 20.5%.
The pension fund had issued an RFP in March for a core fixed-income manager due to the closure in 2020 of prior manager Chicago Equity Partners. Following that closure, the pension fund temporarily shifted the assets to Mesirow Financial because Chicago Equity's fixed-income team moved to that firm.
With the reduction in the fixed-income target and the termination of Mesirow Financial, the pension fund canceled the RFP.
Also at its April 15 meeting, the board approved increasing its target allocation to infrastructure to 10% from 7%, and approved adding $10 million to an open-end infrastructure portfolio managed by Ullico Investment Advisors. As of Dec. 31, that portfolio had $12 million in assets in the plan, according to the pension fund's most recent available investment report.
Investment consultant Marquette Associates assisted.
Steve Swanson, executive director, could not be immediately reached for further information.
