Texas TRS, ERS to Host Emerging Manager Conference
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas and the Employees Retirement System of Texas will co-present the annual TRS/ERS emerging manager conference on February 28, 2024. The conference, held virtually, aims to identify and promote emerging managers.
TRS established the emerging manager program in 2005 to identify a new generation of high-performing managers with the goal of investing in these managers and building long-term relationships.
TRS touts the program as one of the largest emerging manager programs in the U.S. and, so far, has committed $5.9 billion to 204 emerging managers. Managers from the program have returned an annualized 12.9% return over a three-year period, as of December 31, 2021.
An emerging manager is defined by TRS as one with less than $3 billion in assets under management. For private markets funds, TRS has a preference for funds with less than $1 billion in AUM. The pension fund uses the program to primarily invest in private equity, real estate, energy, natural resources, infrastructure, long-only and hedge funds, with first-time investments ranging between $10 million and $30 million.
The emerging manager program also factors into TRS allocation to diverse managers, with 53% of committed capital allocated to such managers.
Some prior firms that graduated from TRS’s emerging manager program include Abacus Capital Group, Vista Equity Partners, Crestview Advisors, Clearlake Capital Group, Voss Capital and more.
The Teachers Retirement System of Texas is a pension fund system that manages $184 billion in assets, as of August 31, 2022. The system serves nearly 1.5 million members. February’s conference will offer general partners direct access to asset allocators.
ERS of Texas, a partner in the program, manages $35.9 billion in assets on behalf of more than 360,000 Texas state employees and retirees, as of October 23.
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