Arkansas PERS Pushes for More International Equity
February 26, 2008
The Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System is planning to ramp up its international equity investments in an effort to enhance returns at the roughly $6 billion plan.
At the plan’s meeting last week, consultant Callan Associates reported that the overall return in the quarter ending Dec. 31, was -0.9%, as compared to a return of 8% during this time last year, according to published reports. More specifically, U.S. equity investments returned -2.7%, while international equity returned -0.6% and fixed-income returned 2%.
As a result, the board decided to consider changing or increasing its roster of managers in international equity.
“The structure is changing from core/value and core/growth to enhanced core mandate with all-cap and benchmark agnostic managers,” Paul Troup, the fund’s consultant at Callan, told IMW via e-mail.
Troup said that the plan could potentially hire four or five managers, to oversee mandates as large as $300 million.
Reportedly, APERS will allow its current international equity managers, UBS Global Asset Management and RiverSource, to rebid for the mandate. Kris Kagel, spokesman for UBS, declined comment, while Charlie Keller, spokesman for RiverSource, could not be reached by press time.
An RFP will not be issued, as Callan will select firms from its manager database, Troup said. The first set of searches will be completed in May.
For more information on related topics, visit the following:
