State Universities Retirement System of Illinois

Transcription

1 State Universities Retirement System of Illinois Serving Illinois Community Colleges and Universities 1901 Fox Drive Champaign, IL (217) (217) (FAX) Investment Department To: Investment Committee From: Tony J. Lee, Lou Ann Fillingham, CPA, and Joseph M. Duncan Date: April 8, 2011 Re: Manager Diversity Program US Equity Small and Mid Cap Core Recommendations Overview In June 2010, at SURS Board of Trustees meeting, a US Equity small and mid cap core search was approved to bring the US Equity portion of the Manager Diversity Program (MDP) closer to a more style-neutral positioning. As of calendar year end 2010, the total MDP US Equity portfolio was valued at $239 million. The asset allocation across the small and mid cap investments within the portfolio is provided below. MDP US Equity Asset Allocation as of December 31, 2010 Small Cap: $113 million or 47% BDHS Profit Mid Cap: $126 million or 53% Channing Lombardia Core Value Growth Holland & NCM Value Growth Search Process An RFP was issued in December The RFP was designed to seek qualitative information about each firm s organizational structure, investment process and quantitative information about performance. The RFP was posted on SURS website and advertised in the official state newspaper. In addition, an advertisement was placed in Emerging Manager Monthly, a publication whose target audience is minority-, female- and persons with a disability-owned investment management firms, and in Pensions and Investments, a publication which targets the investment manager community and plan sponsors. A total of 29 responses were received by SURS. After reviewing all responses, eight semifinalist firms were selected by using several criteria, including a firm s minority-, femaleand persons with a disability-owned status, product type offered and performance track record. Interviews were conducted by SURS staff on February 22 and 23, 2011, with four small cap and four mid cap semi-finalist firms which are listed in the following table.

2 Small Cap Firm Name Firm Ownership Location 1 Fiduciary Management Associates Female Chicago, IL 2 High Pointe Capital Management Asian American Chicago, IL 3 Oakbrook Investments Female Lisle, IL 4 Paradigm Capital Management Female Albany, NY Mid Cap 5 EARNEST Partners Minority Atlanta, GA 6 Globeflex Female San Diego, CA 7 New Amsterdam Partners Female New York, NY 8 Piedmont Advisors African American Durham, NC Additionally, staff received information from Progress Investment Management and Callan Associates on each of the semi-finalist candidates which staff considered in its recommendations. Appendix A following this memorandum lists the semi-finalists and provides reasons for those semi-finalists that were not selected. All managers not selected for allocations will be notified. Based on the RFP responses and manager presentations, staff identified two firms, Fiduciary Management Associates and EARNEST Partners, to be included in the MDP due to their experienced investment staff, organizational stability, investment process and positive performance record, as well as their ability to add product diversification to the MDP US Equity portfolio. The following criteria were considered in making this decision: Selection Criteria A. Organization, Structure, and Personnel B. Assets Under Management and Client Base C. Investment Philosophy, Policy, and Process D. Research Capabilities and Resources E. Historical Performance/Risk Factors F. Evaluation and Relative Comparison of Fee Structure G. Investment Operations, Compliance and Internal Controls H. Product and Investment style fit to existing MDP Portfolio I. Ability to comply with applicable legislative mandates J. Record of trade utilization with minority-, female- and persons with a disability-owned broker dealer firms Despite exceeding the Illinois state definition of an emerging manager, which requires firms to have assets under management of less than $10 billion, EARNEST Partners met all of the selection criteria above, and staff believes the firm is the most qualified mid cap core manager amongst all respondents. Profiles of the recommended firms are included in Appendix B.

3 Analysis of Existing MDP US Equity Portfolio In selecting additional managers to be included in the US Equity asset class of the MDP, staff completed a thorough analysis of the existing MDP US Equity investment managers. Staff s review included both risk and return analysis at the portfolio level in order to determine the appropriate fit of the prospective managers with the existing managers in the MDP. Additionally, staff contracted with Illinois Business Consulting (IBC), a student-run organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to supplement and enhance its analysis of the US Equity managers. IBC was assigned a project to analyze the risks, investment style mix and portfolio characteristics that exist within the six current managers of the MDP US Equity active portfolio. Modification to Existing MDP US Equity Portfolio Based on the style comparison of each of the existing MDP managers relative to their respective benchmarks and the overall style mix of the US Equity portfolio, it was determined that Profit Investment Management (Profit) would be most appropriately benchmarked to the Russell 2000 Growth. It is also suggested that an additional $15 million allocation be provided to Profit in order to better balance the small and mid cap exposures within the MDP as well as to mitigate style exposure risk within the small cap portfolio. Profit has also had strong performance since inception, outperforming its benchmark return by 272 basis points as of December 31, The charts below show the impact of these suggested changes on the US Equity portfolio. MDP US Equity Asset Allocation Pro Forma Small Cap: $163 million or 50% Mid Cap: $161 million or 50% BDHS & Profit Fiduciary Management Associates Holland & NCM Earnest Partners Lombardia Core Value Growth Channing Core Value Growth The Future of the MDP In the past three years since staff and the Board approved the expansion of the MDP, several portfolio changes have occurred with the goal of making the program s asset allocation more closely reflect that of the overall SURS program. The following chart reflects the MDP asset allocation position prior to the current US Equity Core search and compares the expected future asset allocation pro forma post implementation of the recommendations below relative to the SURS overall program.

4 Manager Diversity Program Total SURS (2) Pre Core Search Pro Forma (1) Asset Class (millions) Actual % (millions) Actual % (millions) Actual % U.S. Equity $ % $ % $ 4, % Private Equity % % 1, % Non-U.S. Equity % % 2, % Fixed Income % % 2, % TIPS % % % Real Estate / REITS - 0.0% % % Total Fund $ % $ % $ 11, % * All asset values for pre core search and total SURS portfolio are as of (1) Pro forma values include $85 million in additional US Equity allocation and full commitment amounts for Private Equity and Real Estate investments of $50 m and $75 m. (2) Total SURS portfolio represents only asset classes that are included in the MDP. The actual SURS portfolio as of had $13,519 million in assets. In the chart above, the Pro Forma case reflects the completion of the US Equity Core search ($70 million), an additional allocation to Profit ($15 million) and the gradual funding of the Real Estate ($75 million) as well as Private Equity ($50 million) asset classes of the MDP. With the completion of these initiatives, staff believes the majority of goals set forth in the 2008 program expansion plan will be achieved. Recommendation: Staff recommends the following: That Fiduciary Management Associates be retained as a small cap core manager in the Manager Diversity Program, contingent on successful contract negotiations, with an initial allocation of $35 million. That EARNEST Partners be retained as a mid cap core manager in the Manager Diversity Program, contingent on successful contract negotiations, with an initial allocation of $35 million. That Profit Investment Management s benchmark be changed from the Russell 2000 benchmark to the Russell 2000 Growth benchmark and an additional allocation of $15 million be provided.

5 APPENDIX A Eliminated Small Cap firms: Name Reasons for Elimination 1 High Pointe Capital Management Lack of firm assets Product fit with existing manager line up 2 Oakbrook Investments Length of product performance record Level of assets in the product 3 Paradigm Capital Management Relationship with broker dealer entity Eliminated Mid Cap firms: Name Reasons for Elimination 1 Globeflex Capital Poor relative performance Manager currently on SURS watch list 2 New Amsterdam Partners Poor relative performance 3 Piedmont Advisors Poor since inception performance Organizational concerns regarding recent purchase of Shenandoah

6 APPENDIX B Fiduciary Management Associates (Female) Fiduciary Management Associates (FMA), based in Chicago, Illinois, was founded in October 1980 and registered with the SEC in From 1986 until 2002, FMA was owned by a prominent asset management corporation. In late 2002, management executed a buyback of the firm. FMA is now an independent, employee-owned firm, with six active employees holding 100% of the firm s equity interest. Approximately two-thirds of the firm s equity is women- and minority-owned. FMA employs 11 investment professionals with a total staff of 21 individuals. As of December 31, 2010, FMA managed assets totaling $1.9 billion, of which $1.0 billion was in the U.S. Small Cap Core Equity product currently under consideration by SURS. Clients in the product include Teachers Retirement System of the State of Illinois, Illinois State Board of Investment and Northern Trust Global Advisors. FMA has indicated that the U.S. Small Cap Core equity product has a capacity of approximately $2 billion. SURS would be one of the last clients added to the strategy as the majority of the remaining product capacity is reserved for a large mutual fund client. FMA is no longer actively marketing the product to new clients. Investment Process FMA s philosophy employs a relative value perspective, investing in sectors and companies that have attractive valuations as well as potential catalysts, which are expected to lead to acceleration in earnings and cash flow growth. A macroeconomic approach is employed to identify broad themes that can be exploited through portfolio construction. Company-level fundamental research is conducted to discover firms that are best positioned to take advantage of impending catalysts and trends. The investment style and strategy work well in normal markets when quarterly returns are less than 5%. The approach also works well in down markets due to its fundamental focus on earnings accelerations, relative valuations and lower overall risk profile. FMA strives to construct diversified, fully-invested portfolios through broad representation of market sectors in accordance with its overall investment policy and desired risk profile. Sector weights are constrained to the greater of two times the benchmark or 15% of the portfolio value. All securities must pass a liquidity screen to limit the portfolio s exposure to illiquid securities. The portfolio typically holds between 60 and 90 stocks. The average number of holdings may increase to between 95 and 100 names as the product reaches capacity. Position size does not exceed 5% of the portfolio at market value. The typical cash position is 2% to 3%, with a maximum of 5%. Annual turnover averages between 100% and 130%. Tracking error over the last 5 years has been approximately 3% to 6%.

7 EARNEST Partners (Minority) EARNEST Partners (EARNEST), based in Atlanta, Georgia, was established in The firm is independent and employee-owned, with minority ownership in excess of 60%. EARNEST employs a total staff of 47 individuals, of which 18 are investment professionals. As of December 31, 2010, EARNEST managed a total of approximately $15 billion, of which $3 billion was in the U.S. Mid Cap Core Equity product currently under consideration by SURS. Clients in the product include New Mexico State Investment Council, State of Ohio Police & Fire and Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago. Investment Process EARNEST is a fundamental, bottom-up investment manager. The investment process screens stocks to identify ones that are likely to outperform based on financial characteristics and the current environment. EARNEST seeks companies in attractive industries with developed strategies, talented and honest management teams, sufficient funding and strong financial results. Stocks selected for the portfolio are expected to effectively manage risk. The investment process employs a downside deviation statistical approach to measure and constrain the likelihood of significantly underperforming the benchmark. Stocks that add undue risk to the portfolio as measured by downside deviation are reduced. The process works best when valuation levels migrate to a level consistent with fundamentals and has proven to work well under a myriad of market conditions. EARNEST constructs portfolios of approximately 60 holdings, diversified across sectors with no individual holding exceeding 5% of the portfolio s value, and with cash averaging less than 5%. Turnover is low, averaging between 20% and 30% on an annual basis. Historical tracking error has been less than 4% since inception of the product.