San Francisco City & County Employees' Retirement System terminated AQR Capital Management, Causeway Capital Management and QMA from active equity portfolios totaling $270 million.
The $25.9 billion pension fund's board approved the terminations at its meeting on Wednesday, confirmed Darlene Armanino, board secretary and executive assistant, in an email.
AQR Capital Management ran about $85 million in active international equities, Causeway ran about $80 million in active international value equities, and QMA ran about $105 million in active domestic core equities, all as of May 1.
Staff has recommended investing in "smaller, more nimble firms that have specialty skills, a singular investment focus, and niche strategies," according to board meeting materials.
In memos detailing the rationale behind the recommendations to terminate the managers, staff said AQR, Causeway and QMA's strategies have underperformed their benchmarks and peers in the one-, three- and five-year periods.
Specifically regarding QMA's portfolio, staff recommended in the memo using "synthetics as a more effective and cash-efficient means to gain S&P 500 beta exposure" in the future.
How the proceeds from the terminations will be allocated could not be immediately learned.
AQR spokeswoman Claudia Gray, Causeway spokesman Tucker Hewes and a spokeswoman for QMA each declined to comment.
As of April 30, the actual allocation to public equities was 31.7%.
