Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System, Little Rock, at its Aug. 21 board meeting, approved hiring Boston Partners Global Investors to manage $375 million in active U.S. large-cap value equities for the $11.5 billion pension fund.
The Boston-based manager, with $103.1 billion in assets under management as of June 30, will replace Lazard Asset Management, due to underperformance, said Carlos Borromeo, APERS’ chief investment officer and deputy director–investments and finance.
A Lazard spokesman couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Materials distributed at the board meeting showed Lazard managing $513 million in large-cap value equities for the pension fund as of June 30. Borromeo said the difference between that total and the approved $375 million mandate could be temporarily parked in a large-cap value index fund.
Minutes from a July APERS investments finance subcommittee meeting showed Boston Partners edging out San Francisco-based Dodge & Cox and Los Angeles-based Hotchkis & Wiley Capital on the strength of the firm's resilience in down markets as well as its strategy's relative exposure to growth factors at a time in the market when APERS' team believes U.S. large-cap growth stocks are likely to continue outperforming large-cap value.
