The overseers of the $2 billion Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association felt bold enough last summer to make a substantial move into hedge funds. In the months that followed, however, crumbling markets and dire headlines shook their resolve.
“Merely using the term ‘hedge fund’ right now has a bad connotation with the public,” says retirement administrator Roberto Peña, noting that the directors of Fresno, California–based Fcera have backed off their plans to put 9 percent of assets into hedge funds, reducing the target allocation to 5 percent....
