Maine Public Employees' Retirement System, Augusta, increased its target to alternative credit to 7.5% from 5%, said James Bennett, chief investment officer.
The $16.1 billion pension fund's board also approved lowering the target to risk diversifiers to 7.5% from 10% at its meeting Thursday, Mr. Bennett said.
The alternative credit target was originally created in 2016, and it has been the pension fund's plan for a while to increase the target, and now that the 5% target has been reached, that accounts for the timing of the increase, Mr. Bennett said.
"We like alt credit's risk-return profile, and this change will allow us to deploy additional capital into the asset class," he said in an email.
Regarding the decrease in risk diversifiers, MainePERS' current actual allocation to the asset class is 6.5%, "so the reduction in that asset class will just reflect our current situation," he said.
Mr. Bennett said he does not expect any manager changes as a result of the shift in allocation.
The pension fund's other targets are 30% public equities; 15% private equity; 10% each infrastructure and real estate; 7.5% each traditional credit and U.S. government fixed income; and 5% natural resources.
