Trustees of Illinois State Universities Retirement System, Champaign, approved investment of $225 million in Clarion Lion Properties Fund, an open-ended core real estate fund, from the system's $23.5 billion defined benefit plan, during their June 3 meeting.
Clarion Partners is an existing manager for SURS.
Core real estate is part of SURS' $4 billion stabilized growth portfolio.
In addition to real estate, the stabilized growth bucket includes options, core infrastructure, public credit fixed income and private credit, a performance report showed.
The actual asset allocation for SURS' stabilized growth portfolio as of March 31 was 16.4% including the system's overlay, compared to the 17% long-term strategic policy target for the portfolio.
Trustees also voted to hire volatility specialist Capstone Investment Advisors, a new firm, as a backup manager for the fund's long-volatility and tail-risk mandates, confirmed Beth Spencer, SURS' spokeswoman, in an email.
SURS will contract with Capstone but "will not fund a mandate at this time," Ms. Spencer said, adding "the bench allows a quick shift, if necessary, from the primary firms that were hired" at the system's April 21 meeting.
At that meeting, One River Asset Management was awarded $401 million in a long-volatility strategy and LongTail Alpha was allocated $71 million for investment in a tail-risk portfolio.
Long-volatility and tail-risk strategies are part of the defined benefit plan's $4.4 billion crisis risk offset portfolio.
As of March 31, the actual allocation of the crisis risk offset portfolio accounted for 18.3% of plan assets, including overlay, vs. the 19% long-term strategic policy target for the portfolio.
Other strategies in the crisis risk offset portfolio are systematic trend following and alternative risk premia.
Separately, SURS trustees approved the termination of a small/midcap value fund managed by Janus Henderson, which will be replaced by a smidcap value fund managed by EARNEST Partners, in SURS' $3.8 billion defined contribution plan and in the system's $5.5 million deferred compensation plan.
About $14 million from the Janus fund will be moved into the DC plan and $76,000 will go into the deferred compensation plan, Ms. Spencer confirmed.
