North Dakota State Investment Board, Bismarck, is preparing to hire at least two external managers to oversee around $1 billion in public equity assets next year.
The board provides investment oversight for $16.9 billion in total assets — $6.4 billion in pooled pension assets plus $7.5 billion in its legacy fund and a $3 billion insurance pool, said David Hunter, executive director and CIO of the North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office, which administers and implements actions of the investment board,
Callan, North Dakota's investment consultant, is assisting. An RFP will not be issued, but managers can contact Paul Erlendson, senior vice president and consultant at Callan, with questions, Mr. Hunter said.
"The biggest thing we're working on now is … harmonizing our strategies in the public equity portfolio," Mr. Hunter said. "(This) will probably result in us adding at least two new managers to help us take control of our manager concentration. We want to keep a good manager diversification roster. It also could result in a new strategy with an existing manager," he said of the plans.
The hirings would be made over the next six months, he added.
North Dakota would rather have a larger stable of managers overseeing at least $500 million to $1.25 billion each than a smaller group with a larger concentration of assets, Mr. Hunter said.
The funding source of the $1 billion in new mandates will come from existing managers, pension contributions, insurance premium collections and the oil and gas tax captured in the legacy fund, Mr. Hunter said.
