Chicago Firemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund hired BlackRock and William Blair & Co. to manage up to $18 million each in liquid diversifying/liquid alternative strategies, recently released board meeting minutes show.
The $874 million pension fund issued an RFP in April for a manager to run a strategy with a low or negative correlation to public equity, low-to-moderate volatility, monthly liquidity and low net leverage. The portfolio represents a 4% target allocation of the total pension fund, the RFP said.
Types of strategies excluded from the search were global asset allocation strategies, hedge funds of funds, long-biased strategies and risk-parity strategies, according to the RFP.
The Aug. 26 board meeting minutes did not provide further information on BlackRock and William Blair's strategies.
Investment consultant Callan assisted.
Lorna Scott, chief investment officer, was not available to provide further information.
