Florida State Board of Administration

Florida Pension Commits $200 Million to Apartments, Industrial Real Estate

The Florida State Board of Administration – the entity that manages the state’s pension assets – has invested $200 million in apartment buildings and industrial real estate in Chicago, Boston, Michigan and Florida, according to a report from Investments & Pensions Europe.

More details from IPE:

The four deals, closed through Heitman, will focus on the apartment and industrial sectors.

The pension fund is also considering three fund commitments worth a combined $213m but declined to provide further details.

Two industrial purchases, in markets not considered to be top tier, were bought for $43.9m and $29.1m, respectively.

The 672,000sqft Romeo industrial asset in Chicago and a 500,000sqft warehouse/industrial property in Denver were bought at $65 and $58 per sqft.

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Florida also bought a 417-unit complex in a suburb north of Miami, paying $80.5m, or $193,000 a unit.

The fund also paid $59.4m for the Hannah Lofts student housing complex in East Lansing, Michigan, close to Michigan State University.

The Florida SBA manages $138.6 billion in pension assets.

Photo by Gwan Kho via Flickr CC License

Florida Pension Looks To Hire Bank For Collateral Management

Nearly a dozen banks are pitching their services to the Florida State Board of Administration (SBA), the entity that manages assets for the Florida Retirement System.

Reported by the Securities Lending Times:

Multiple banks are competing to provide the State Board of Administration of Florida with prime and collateral management services, it has been revealed.

The State Board of Administration of Florida, which manages the state’s public employees’ retirement savings, has received pitches from CitiGroup, Deutsche Bank, Newedge, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Pershing for prime services.

State Street, BNY Mellon and CitiGroup have submitted pitches to provide collateral management services following the State Board of Administration of Florida’s request for proposals.

A spokesperson said that a decision on the providers is expected by the end of this week.

An explanation of the services the SBA is seeking, from Pensions & Investments:

Prime services include prime brokerage in short-selling of securities, foreign-exchange prime brokerage, as well as clearing for futures, options and over-the-counter derivatives, including swaps, according to the solicitation.

Collateral management includes margin collateral custody and management services related to prime services.

The SBA manages $180.3 billion in assets.

Florida Pension Invests $63 Million In European Real Estate

The Florida State Board of Administration, the entity that manages assets for the Florida Retirement Systems, announced a $63.76 million commitment to a JP Morgan fund that invests in real estate in France, the UK and Germany.

Reported by I&P Real Estate:

Florida State Board of Administration has approved a €50m (€39.1m) commitment to JP Morgan Asset Management’s opportunistic European IP Fund III fund.

The fund has also approved a $100m allocation to Prologis’ Targeted US Logistics fund.

As revealed by IP Real Estate last week, JP Morgan’s opportunistic fund is aimed at assets in the UK, Germany and France.

The fund manager can raise as much as €750m for the fund, which will invest in office, industrial, retail and residential properties, according to Florida SBA. Buildings with low vacancy and in need of refurbishment and redevelopment are being targeted by the fund.

As reported, the fund is currently investing in office properties in Berlin and Paris. With leverage, the fund could invest as much as €3bn across Europe.

Florida said it would continue to identify international pooled fund opportunities as part of its plan for the current fiscal year.

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Florida has also recently sold two office buildings for $202m. The Nyala Farms office asset in Westport, Connecticut was sold for Florida by L&B Realty, while One Boca Place was sold through Invesco Real Estate.

The pension fund has allocated $900m for new real estate investment opportunities, split into $500m for core and $400m for non-core. Capital will be invested via both funds and direct ownership through separate account managers.

Florida’s long-term real estate allocation target is 10 percent. It currently invests 7.5 percent of assets in real estate.

Florida Pension Cuts PIMCO

In the latest vote of non-confidence in a post-Bill Gross PIMCO, the Florida State Board of Administration (SBA), the entity that manages investments for the Florida Retirement Systems, has announced it will drastically cut its investments with PIMCO.

From the New York Times:

The investment body overseeing the state of Florida’s retirement system said Tuesday that it would be sharply curtailing the funds that it has allocated to the shaken bond giant.

In a statement, Dennis Mackee, a spokesman for the $147 billion pension fund, said that $1.9 billion in assets managed by PIMCO as a separate investment account for Florida would be “significantly reduced.”

Mackee also said that Florida’s investment plan would be terminating PIMCO’s Total Return Fund and its Inflation Response Multi-Asset Strategy Fund. Together, the funds managed just over $1 billion for Florida retirees.

Adding insult to injury, Mackee said that this money would be steered toward two funds belonging to PIMCO’s archrival, BlackRock.

Mackee said that Blackrock would also be one of several other money managers receiving the separate account money withdrawn from PIMCO.

As with many state retirement funds, Florida had put PIMCO on its watch list after reports that its two leaders, Bill Gross and Mohamed El-Erian, were feuding.

The Florida Retirement System is one of the largest public pension funds in the United States. It manages $147 billion.

Florida Pension Continues Search For Senior Fixed Income Manager

The Florida State Board of Administration (SBA), the entity that manages investments for the Florida Retirement Systems, has re-posted a job listing looking for a senior portfolio manager to manage fixed income investments.

The SBA appears to have increased the top range of the position’s potential salary, from $140,000 to $180,000. The job pays, at minimum, $120,000. The listing reads:

Responsibilities

50%. Research and analysis of economic and market information to support the Internal Fixed Income investment process. Shape the interest rate view and contribute relative value ideas. This will involve, but not be limited to; analyzing written publications and conversing with economists and strategist regarding individual country or global economic conditions and prospects, researching, understanding and explaining the implications of economic projections on the current structure of internal portfolios, researching, analyzing and presenting relative value opportunities for internal portfolios and constructing, explaining and presenting trade ideas to capture relative value opportunities.

25% Supervision of and backup for Portfolio Manager

10%. Preparation for and participation in weekly group strategy meeting.

15%. Assist the Sr. Investment Officer-Fixed Income with special projects and perform other duties as delegated.

Qualifications

(Re-advertisement – Previous applicants will be considered and need not re-apply)

A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in computer science, MIS, accounting, finance, business, communication, public information, marketing, economics, mathematicis, statistics, or management and five years of related professional experience, three years of which must have been at a supervisory level or higher;

Or, a master’s degree or MBA from an accredited college or university and three years of related professional experience, two years of which must have been at a supervisory level or higher.

Professional related experience will substitute for the required college education.

Preference will be given to candidates with a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

The application period closes on October 10.

View the listing by clicking here.

Photo by Nathan Stephens via Flickr CC License