District of Columbia Retirement Board approved manager hires and commitments totaling up to $502m.

The $10.9bn pension fund’s board approved hiring EARNEST Partners to manage up to $250 million in active smidcap core equities at its Jan. 20 meeting, recently released meeting minutes show.

A funding source was not disclosed. According to the pension fund’s most recent available investment report, it had three domestic equity managers as of Sept. 30: a $2 billion passive all-cap portfolio managed by Northern Trust Asset Management, a $318 million active small-cap value portfolio managed by Channing Capital Management, and a $90 million active large-cap growth portfolio managed by Sands Capital Management.

As of Sept. 30, the actual allocation to domestic equities was 21.4%.

 

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Also at the Jan. 20 meeting, the board approved commitments of up to £75 million ($102 million) to Epiris Fund III, a U.K.-focused buyout fund; and up to $75 million each to Turning Rock Fund II, a private debt fund managed by Turning Rock Partners; and growth equity fund Updata Partners VII, the minutes show.

DCRB previously committed up to £30 million to Epiris II in 2017 and up to $40 million to Updata Partners VI in 2019.

As of Sept. 30, the actual allocations to private equity and private debt were 7.7% and 0.3%, respectively.

Gianpiero “J.P.” Balestrieri, the board’s executive director, could not be immediately reached for further information.

Source: Pensions & Investments

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