Idaho Public Employee Retirement System, Boise, hired Baird Advisors, Dodge & Cox and J.P. Morgan Asset Management to run fixed-income portfolios.
The $24.1 billion pension fund’s board approved the hirings at its March 18 meeting, recently released meeting minutes showed.
Baird Advisors will run an aggregate fixed-income portfolio, Dodge & Cox a discretionary core fixed-income portfolio and JPMAM a core-plus fixed-income portfolio, according to a memo from investment staff to the board included with March 18 meeting materials.
The pension fund launched a search for fixed-income managers in the fall of 2024 “due to the termination of one of our fixed income managers,” according to the memo. While the memo did not identify the terminated manager, Sept. 24 board meeting minutes showed the board at that time voted to terminate Western Asset Management Co. from a $294 million customized global fixed-income portfolio.
While the reason for the termination was not provided, many public pension funds have terminated WAMCO since August when after the manager’s parent company, Franklin Templeton, said 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.
Neither the meeting minutes nor the memo provide further information on the new managers’ portfolio sizes.
As of March 31, the actual allocation to fixed income was 30%; the target is 29%.
Investment consultant Callan assisted.
Richelle Sugiyama, the pension fund’s chief investment officer, has not responded to requests for further information.
