Austin (Texas) Firefighters Retirement Fund hired Dimensional Fund Advisors to manage $30 million in an enhanced index international small-cap equity portfolio.
The $1.2 billion pension fund’s board approved the hiring at its Feb. 28 meeting, recently released meeting minutes showed.
Funding comes from the termination, also approved at the meeting, of active international international small-cap equity manager Highclere International Investors. The minutes cited underperformance as the reason for termination.
A Highclere spokesperson said in an email, "To some extent, it does depend which benchmark is being considered. Our strategy was benchmarked against the S&P EPAC
Separately, the board also terminated Westwood Holdings Group from a $10 million active domestic large-cap value equity portfolio. The minutes said performance was not a concern, but the termination was the result of the pension fund wanting to simplify its overall portfolio and save on fees.
Assets will be reallocated to an existing passive domestic large-cap equity portfolio managed by State Street Global Advisors, giving the portfolio a total of $142 million in assets in the pension fund.
As of Dec. 31, the pension fund’s actual allocations to domestic equities and international equities were 23.3% and 21.7%, respectively; their respective targets are 20% and 22%.
Investment consultant Meketa Investment Group assisted.
