(November 25, 2013) — Four new emerging market equity mandates have been awarded by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC) after the fund decided it needed to diversify the asset class further.
The APFC fund has $3.2 billion in emerging market stocks, according to its annual report from September 2013, and has awarded $100 million mandates to each of the four new managers.
In the growth style section of its emerging market equities, APFC appointed JP Morgan and William Blair, while Lee Munder Capital Management and Delaware Investments received mandates for the value style section.
Selective rebalancing within existing mandates will provide the funds for the new mandates, and no existing manager contracts were terminated.
The emerging market equities sector of APFC’s portfolio endured a tough year in 2013, but managed to outperform its benchmark.
As investor sentiment drove away from emerging market stocks following a slowdown in the Chinese economy, APFC’s emerging equities returned 3.8%, versus a 3.2% benchmark.
The annual report also showed the total returns for the fiscal year reached 10.9%, resulting in assets under management of $44.9 billion.
Jay Willoughby, CIO of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, ranked 28 on this year’s Power 100.
In 2011 APFC introduced an external CIO program, which saw funds allocated to Bridgewater Associates, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, GMO, PIMCO, and AQR. The firms were given broad mandates to invest across traditional portfolio buckets.
This year Willoughby added Carlyle to that list, allocating $750 million to the private-equity giant to focus on energy investments.
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