Maryland State Retirement & Pension System, Baltimore, allocated $2.5 billion from May through August and extended State Street Bank and Trust Co.'s contract as its global custodian, according to board documents.
In public equities, the $68 billion pension fund hired J.P. Morgan Asset Management to manage $1.5 billion in U.S. large-cap equities and Integrated Quantitative Investments to manage $103 million in U.S. small-cap equities.
Also in public equities, Maryland hired three firms to manage international developed ex-U.S. strategies: $84 million to Foresight Global Investors, $63 million to Promethos Capital and $12 million to Channing Global Advisors. And it hired four firms to manage international developed ex-U.S. small-cap strategies: $51 million to Hillsdale Investment Management; $42 million to MAC Alpha Capital Management; $41 million to CastleArk Management and $29 million to Ballina Capital.
In private equity, the pension fund committed $100 million to a co-investment vehicle associated with Hg Capital. A spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached to provide specifics about any disclosed co-investments. Maryland most recently committed $100 million to Hg Saturn 3, a European buyout fund, and $90 million to Hg Genesis 10, a European upper-middle-market buyout fund, each in 2022.
Separately, the pension fund committed $60 million to middle-market buyout fund Pacific Equity Partners Fund VII.
In credit/debt, the pension fund committed $100 million to opportunistic credit fund Francisco Partners III and $56 million to a co-investment fund associated with Shamrock Capital Content Fund III, a buyout fund managed by Shamrock Capital Advisors.
In real estate, the pension fund committed $100 million to a Zenith IOS fund. Further details weren’t immediately available, but the manager is a builder and owner of outdoor storage properties.
In absolute return, Maryland made two $75 million commitments to funds managed by private equity firm Arctos Partners: Arctos Keystone Partners Fund I and Arctos Keystone Diamondback CIV.
Elsewhere, the pension fund's board of trustees approved a two-year contract extension for State Street, effective March 1, 2025, through Feb. 28, 2027, spokesperson Katherine Morris confirmed in an email. Maryland initially hired State Street to a five-year contract in 2018 and approved two separate one-year extensions over the last two years, board documents showed. The retirement system pays State Street a flat fee of $3 million each year, according to board documents.
As of June 30, the pension fund’s actual allocation was 30.7% public equities, 21.6% private equity, 16.5% rate-sensitive assets, 14.2% real assets, 8.9% credit, 5.8% absolute return, 0.4% multiasset strategies and the rest in cash.
