09/02/2012 Author: Kirstie Brewer (London)

EXCLUSIVE: Texas County commits $305m to fresh hedge fund hires

The Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS), which has $17.7bn in assets, has allocated $305m between two hedge funds, two months after making an extra $885m available to the space, HFMWeek can exclusively reveal.

TCDRS, which upped its hedge fund target allocation from 20% to 25% at the start of this year, has hired, Asian Century Quest and Graham Global Investment Fund for $130m and $175m respectively.

The two new hires join a 28-strong line up, which includes hedge fund giants Winton and Brevan Howard.

TCDRS, which is advised on its investment decisions by Cliffwater Associates, now has a roughly $2.8bn hedge fund portfolio, leaving around $1.6bn open for potential new searches.

The decision to increase hedge fund exposure was swiftly kick started by a $200m allocation to Highfields Capital, a Boston based investment management firm, HFMWeek reported at the time.