San Francisco City & County Employees' Retirement System terminated Advent Capital Management from a balanced convertible securities portfolio.
The $35.1 billion pension fund disclosed the termination in materials for its upcoming March 13 meeting.
Alison Romano, CEO/CIO of the pension fund, approved the termination in "accordance with SFERS manager selection, monitoring and termination policy approved by the retirement board at its meeting on July 20, 2023" on Feb. 9, according to the materials. At that July meeting, the board delegated some investment authority to Romano.
She had recommended partial delegation in a July 15 memo to the board because "doing so will enable the board to align its time and focus on the investment, benefits administration and operational topics that have the greatest impact on the success of the SFERS organization."
Further information on the reason for the termination and the current portfolio size was not provided. SFERS originally hired Advent Capital in 2003.
An Advent Capital spokesperson said the firm "enjoyed a 20-plus year relationship with SFERS, in which the convertible allocation provided diversification in the plan's public equity portfolio, by offering equity-like returns with downside protection. The mandate was terminated due to asset allocation changes regarding their overall equity allocation at SFERS and was not performance driven."
Pension fund spokesman Stephen Worsfold said: “SFERS continuously monitors all the funds in which we invest. Allocation and termination decisions consider the strategy’s fit within the broader SFERS portfolio and manager-specific criteria, which may include investment performance, risk, and/or organization considerations.”
