Illinois Teachers Fund Makes Portfolio Changes

The $36.8 billion Teachers Retirement System of the State of Illinois has made a number of changes to its domestic equity portfolio and increased its allocation to private equity, Financial News reports.The plan has reduced by $260 million the assets managed by Delaware Investment and by $140 the small-and-mid-cap core mandate managed by State Street Global Advisors to invest $400 million with Tygh Capital Management.Illinois also terminated its$215 million mandate with Ariel Capital for performance reasons, reports FN.The plan increased its investment in private equity, adding $993 million. Currently 3.6% of the plan is allocated to p.e., but Illinois hopes to reach its 6 percent target by 2007. Other changes include the termination of UBS Core Product and a reduction of mandates held by BlackRock and Payden & Rygel, which were replaced by Goldman Sachs and ING Investment Management. The plan has been in the spotlight recently for a recent state law requiring the divestment in Sudan-linked companies.

Click here for the related story on DailyII.com.