Illinois Muni seeks manager with secondaries know-how

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, a $40 billion pension fund, has put out a tender for an investment manager with secondaries experience.

According to the request for proposal published on its website, the pension wants to build a private equity separate account that can make primary fund commitments, as well as invest opportunistically in secondaries and co-investments.

The IMRF has at least $50 million to allocate initially to the mandate, the document notes, and will allocate an additional sum annually thereafter.

The successful candidate will have the ability to transfer in, manage and monitor any existing separately managed private equity portfolios, if required.

The IMRF prefers an open-ended fund model in which it is the only investor, according to the RFP. It will also give preference to managers that primarily focus on “discretionary mandates in a non-advisory capacity” and that do not charge carried interest on primary fund investments.

The RFP went out on 5 February and investment managers have until 23 February to respond. A final decision will be made by 18 May, the RFP notes.

Investment consultancy Callan Associates is managing the process.

The IMRF has $41 billion in assets under management as of 31 December, the firm states in the RFP.

Its alternatives portfolio has net asset value of $1.4 billion with an additional $924 million of unfunded commitments. Private equity accounts for 89 percent of the portfolio.