University of Alabama System's investment committee hired Oaktree Capital Management to run about $29 million in active emerging markets equities for its $1.9 billion pooled endowment fund.
The Tuscaloosa-based university's investment committee approved the hiring at its meeting Thursday, according to a webcast of the meeting.
Funding comes from the termination of current active emerging markets equity manager Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co., which was also approved by the committee Thursday.
Nolan Bean, head of institutional investments at Fund Evaluation Group, the system's investment consultant, recommended the change.
"GMO is a great firm. We've come to the decision that we just think there's a better manager that complements and fits within our portfolio, so they've served us well but I think we can do better for what we need in the portfolio," Mr. Bean said in the webcast.
A GMO spokesman declined to comment.
The endowment's target allocation to public equities is 33%.
