The $51.1 billion Illinois Teachers' Retirement System, Springfield, is searching for large-cap or all-cap international equity managers, according to an RFP posted on the website.
Strategies that will be considered by the fund's public equity investment team include 130/30 and factor-based approaches and geographies may include developed non-U.S. markets, emerging markets or a combination of both.
The RFP does not specify the total amount the $51.1 billion pension fund seeks to deploy with new international managers, the number of managers to be hired, the size of individual separate account mandates and whether active or passive strategies are sought.
Proposals are due Aug. 15.
In response to a request for more information about the search, including when candidates are likely to be selected, David Urbanek, the pension fund's spokesman, said in an email that for legal reasons, he is unable to comment on the search beyond what is contained in the RFP document.
The RFP stated "while the preliminary intention of TRS is to hire one or more firms, staff may instead allocate capital among existing mandates if the preferred search candidate(s) are not identified."
As of March 31, the following managers were in the $6.8 billion large-cap international equity portfolio: Northern Trust Asset Management, which passively manages $2.3 billion, followed by active managers Arrowstreet Capital, $998 million; Acadian Asset Management, $970 million; LSV Capital Management, $963 million; Strategic Global Advisors, $593 million; Mondrian Investment Partners, $520 million; J.P. Morgan Asset Management, $416 million; and Brown Capital Management, $59 million. The entire international equity portfolio totals about $10 billion.
