08/02/2012 Author: Kirstie Brewer

Cook County pension fund hires first FoHFs

The $6.85bn County Employees’ and Officers’ Annuity & Benefit Fund of Cook County, Illinois, has hired three funds of hedge funds (FoHF), marking the pension’s first steps into the hedge fund arena, HFMWeek.com revealed last week.

Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, Diversified Global Asset Management and The Rock Creek Group are set to be allocated around 9% of the total fund, though specific allocations to individual managers have not been determined, Nickol Hackett, chief investment officer, confirmed.  

Blackstone also won a roughly $16m mandate to be the sole  FoHF for the $158m Forest Preserve District pension, which is also managed by the Cook County board of trustees.   

The new hires follow a Request For Proposal from the Cook County Retirement Board issued in September, for FoHF managers to run about $692m for the board’s two pension plans.

Last year, the board of trustees approved an increase in the Cook County pension fund’s absolute return target from 5% to 9%, Hackett confirmed to HFMWeek at the time.

The change came as a result of an asset allocation study conducted by the fund’s consultant, Callan Associates, which was officially appointed in January.