California Department of Human Resources, Sacramento, hired Brandes Investment Partners as active international value equity manager and MFS Investment Management as active international growth equity manager to manage approximately $385 million each for the state's $18.5 billion Savings Plus program's 457(b) and 401(k) plans, spokeswoman Camille Travis said in an email.
The department had issued an RFP due to the pending expirations of the contracts of current growth manager Baillie Gifford and current value manager Franklin Templeton, Ms. Travis said. Both firms were eligible to rebid and did so, but "neither firm scored in the top and therefore were not called in for a finalist interview," Ms. Travis said.
The other growth finalists were Hardman Johnston Global Advisors and William Blair Investment Management. The other value finalists were Aristotle Capital Management and Sprucegrove Investment Management.
Brandes and MFS will act as underlying managers for the plans' International Fund investment option as well as the international growth and value equity portions of the plan's target-date funds.
The department had issued an RFP in June, stating the selected firms would evenly split $770 million in assets, which is based on March 31 plan asset values, and the exact amounts to be mapped to the firms from the incumbent firms will be determined in January.
