Howard County Retirement Plans, Ellicott City, Md., hired MFS Investment Management to run $75 million in active international equities and committed $15 million to Backcast Credit Opportunities Fund II.
The joint committee for the Howard County Retirement Plan and the Howard County Police and Fire Employees' Retirement Plan approved the hiring of MFS and the commitment to the private credit fund managed by Backcast Partners at its Sept. 18 meeting, recently released meeting minutes showed.
Funding for the MFS hiring comes from the termination of Baillie Gifford from a similar portfolio, the minutes said. A shortlist search was conducted, and the other finalists were Fidelity Institutional Asset Management and Walter Scott & Partners.
The minutes did not provide a reason for the termination of Baillie Gifford.
As of June 30, the plans’ actual allocations to international developed markets equities and private debt were 10% and 3.3%, respectively; their respective targets are 10.5% and 5%.
The pension funds have $1.6 billion in combined assets.
Investment consultant NEPC assisted.
