The governing board of the New York State Deferred Compensation Plan, Albany, has issued an RFP seeking asset management firms to manage active U.S. equity investments which now account for more than one-third of total plan assets, according to the plan's website.
Active equity assets were $12.2 billion as of Dec. 31, representing 34.4% of the deferred compensation plan's $35.3 billion in assets.
Five asset managers now provide eight actively managed U.S. equity investments: five large cap equity, one small/mid-cap equity and two small cap equity.
The RFP is routine because the contracts for the eight investments expire on June 30, 2025, Sharon Lukacs, the plan's executive director, wrote in an email.
The new contracts will run up to 10 years. The existing managers — T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, Boston Partners and Macquarie Asset Management — are invited to rebid, she wrote.
Applications are due by April 5. The governing board will interview the top candidates in June, and selections will be made in August. The allocation of funds to the winners "depends on strategy, as early as April 2025," the RFP said.
The board is seeking applications for six strategies:
- Active U.S. Large Cap Value strategies benchmarked to the Russell 1000 Value, S&P 500 Value or similar large-cap value index.
- Active U.S. Large Cap Core strategies benchmarked to the S&P 500, Russell 1000 or similar index.
- Active U.S. Large Cap Growth strategies benchmarked to the Russell 1000 Growth, S&P 500 Growth, NASDAQ or similar index.
- Active U.S. SMID Cap Core strategies benchmarked to the Russell 2500 or similar index.
- Active U.S. Small Cap Value strategies benchmarked to the Russell 2000 Value, S&P 600 Value or similar index.
- Active U.S. Small Cap Growth strategies benchmarked to the Russell 2000 Growth, S&P 600 Growth or similar index.
"The process is open to evaluating mutual funds, CIT's, or other daily valued pooled vehicles, (but) not separate accounts," the RFP said.
