CalPERS Commits $400M to Emerging Managers

April 27, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has committed a total of $400 million to three emerging managers in the pension fund’s Manager Development Program II (MDP II) for public equity investment.

A CalPERS press release said the fund earmarked $150 million each to TOBAM of Paris, France, an institutional investment company that specializes in quantitative core strategies, and to Victoria, a San Francisco, California, company focused on emerging markets. CalPERS will receive an undisclosed equity stake in each of the new MDP II firms in exchange for working capital.   

Quotient, a majority employee-owned firm with MDP II since 2008, will receive $100 million for a new environmental, social and governance product.  

“These emerging managers will play an important role in our effort to nurture potential diverse major players in the financial markets,” said Joseph Dear, CalPERS Chief Investment Officer, in the announcement.  

MDP II provides assets to small and emerging public equity firms that have no more than $2 billion of assets under management. It also supplies venture capital in exchange for a significant but minority equity stake.

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