OAK BROOK, Ill. – On Friday, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) Board of Trustees approved $600 million in commitments to 6 firms in the public markets and real estate asset classes.
Public Markets: $450 million allocated to Minority and/or Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) Investment Management firms:
The Board approved the following:
- Allocation of up to $100 million to Attucks Asset Management to manage a fixed income MWBE manager of managers mandate, subject to satisfactory legal due diligence. Attucks is an African American owned firm and qualifies as Minority-owned, as defined by the Illinois Pension Code.
- Allocation of up to $100 million to Xponance to manage an international equity MWBE manager of managers mandate, subject to satisfactory legal due diligence. Xponance is an African American owned firm and qualifies as Minority-owned, as defined by the Illinois Pension Code.
- Allocation of up to $125 million to the existing Brown Capital Management international equity all-cap core mandate, subject to satisfactory legal due diligence. Brown is an African American owned firm and qualifies as Minority-owned, as defined by the Illinois Pension Code.
- Allocation of up to $125 million to the existing GlobeFlex Capital international equity all-cap core mandate, subject to satisfactory legal due diligence. GlobeFlex is a Women owned firm and qualifies as Minority-owned, as defined by the Illinois Pension Code.
IMRF is dedicated to the MWBE Manager space and redeployed the capital managed by Progress to other MWBE firms through direct manager mandates, including new Private Market mandates, graduations, additional allocations, and new Fixed Income and International Equity Manager of Managers mandates. In December 2019, Progress Investment Management, IMRF’s MWBE Manager of Managers, announced it would close its firm by May 31, 2020. At that time, Progress managed approximately $1.3 billion in IMRF assets across two MWBE Manager of Managers portfolios. Including the recommendations approved today, the entirety of the $1.3 billion previously managed by Progress has been redeployed to MWBE managers across U.S Equity ($200 million or 15.3%), International Equity ($350 million or 26.7%), Fixed Income ($400 million or 30.6%), Real Estate ($125 million or 9.6%), and Alternatives ($232.5 million or 17.8%). As a result of these actions, 24% of the total IMRF portfolio will be managed by MWBE investment managers, exceeding IMRF’s aspirational goal of 20%.
Real Estate: $150 million in commitments:
The Board approved commitments to the following:
- Up to $100 million to Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund XII, L.P., subject to satisfactory legal due diligence. IMRF is an existing investor in Starwood’s Real Estate Funds totaling $145 million in aggregate commitments.
- Up to $50 million to Torchlight Debt Fund VII L.P., subject to satisfactory legal due diligence. IMRF is an existing investor in Torchlight’s Real Estate Funds totaling $150 million in aggregate commitments.
As of June 30, the total IMRF portfolio was valued at $43.1 billion.
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