Sarasota (Fla.) General Employees’ Pension Fund invested $14 million in the Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund.
The $176 million pension fund’s board approved the investment in the passive domestic large-cap equity mutual fund managed by Vanguard Group at its Dec. 10 meeting, recently released meeting showed.
Funding comes from the termination of active domestic large-cap growth equity manager Polen Capital Management. The minutes said the termination was recommended because of the current challenges in gaining outperformance in domestic large-cap growth equities given the concentration of outperformance among a small number of companies. The minutes also cited recent underperformance by the Polen strategy.
Scott Owens, managing director, wealth management and institutional consulting director and alternative investment director at investment consultant Graystone Consulting, said in the minutes he would have confidence maintaining passive management in the current market, and when there are indicators of long-term negative growth, he may recommend moving back to active management.
A spokesperson for Polen Capital declined to comment.
Graystone Consulting assisted.
