Chicago Firemen’s Annuity & Benefit Fund hired Wellington Management to run $50 million in an active domestic core fixed-income portfolio.
The $1.3 billion pension fund’s board approved the hiring at its Jan. 15 meeting, recently released meeting minutes showed.
The pension fund issued an RFP in September in tandem with another RFP for an active domestic core-plus fixed-income manager to run $70 million. The board has yet to hire a core-plus manager from that search.
The pension fund’s board had approved the issuance of the RFPs at its Sept. 18 meeting, minutes of that meeting showed. While funding sources were not provided in those minutes, the board at that meeting had also approved placing core-plus manager Western Asset Management Co. on watch due to organizational issues.
The board ultimately terminated WAMCO from its $158 million portfolio at its Nov. 20 meeting, minutes from that meeting showed.
Western Asset Management has been terminated by a number of public pension funds after the manager’s parent, Franklin Templeton, disclosed in August that the SEC had issued a Wells notice to co-CIO Ken Leech, identifying him as a target of an investigation focusing on “past trade allocations involving Treasury derivatives." Leech has since resigned and been charged by the agency with securities fraud.
Lorna Scott, the pension fund’s chief investment officer, could not be immediately reached for further information.
As of Sept. 30, the pension fund’s actual allocation to fixed income was 24.3%; the target is 22%.
Investment consultant Callan assisted.
