Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board, Cheyenne, approved a commitment to one private equity fund and hired six managers, while terminating eight investment strategies, Chief Investment Officer Patrick D. Fleming confirmed in an email.
At its Aug. 8 meeting, the board approved investment consultant RVK's recommendation to commit $200 million to BlackRock's Long Term Private Capital Fund.
It also approved recommendations to hire Harding Loevner to run an international equities strategy; J.P. Morgan Asset Management to run a core fixed-income mortgage-backed securities strategy; Global Evolution and Goldman Sachs Asset Management to each run emerging market debt strategies; Payden & Rygel to run an investment-grade corporate bond strategy; and State Street Global Advisors to manage both a domestic small-cap strategy and an MLP on behalf of the investment board.
Amounts for allocations was not disclosed.
The board currently has a target allocation of 29% to U.S. aggregate fixed income, 14% to international equities, 14% U.S. equities (which includes a 3% allocation to domestic small-cap), 8% private equity, 7.5% hedge funds, 6% bank loans, 6% core real estate, 5.5% MLPs, 5% non-core real estate and 5% emerging markets debt.
The board also agreed to redeem from the following strategies:
- An emerging market debt portfolio managed by Stone Harbor.
- A bank loan portfolio managed by Seix Investment Advisors.
- A credit income portfolio managed by Neuberger Berman Group.
- A convertible securities portfolio managed by Allianz Global.
- A low-duration portfolio managed by SSGA.
- A TIPS portfolio managed by SSGA.
- An international equities portfolio managed by Fisher Investments.
- A core fixed-income portfolio managed by JPMAM.
Mr. Fleming said the terminations were "due to asset allocation changes and not necessarily performance-related."
As an example, the board no longer invests in converts and TIPS. Plus, Seix and Neuberger Berman were managing a credit portfolio that was switched into bank loans. Also, the board is splitting aggregate fixed income into its subcomponents: Treasuries, mortgage-backed securities and investment grade corporate bonds.
The money redeemed from JPMAM's core fixed-income strategy was put into its MBS portfolio.
The Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board oversees $21 billion in seven state permanent funds, including the $8.1 billion Permanent Mineral Trust, $4.1 billion Common School Permanent Land Fund and $2.2 billion Workers Compensation Fund, and two non-permanent funds, which include the state's $5.5 billion in operating funds.
