The $1.2 billion Merced County (Calif.) Employees Retirement Association approved a new asset allocation at its board meeting today, according to live video. The plan will cut its hedge fund target to 5% from 10% to largely fund an increase to U.S. fixed-income to 18% from 11% as part of the changes. The adjustments will also see emerging markets equity and core real estate reduced to 6% from 8% each and opportunistic credit lowered to 4% from 5% while increasing international developed markets equity to 12% from 11% and creating a 2% target to cash. The remaining targets of 22% to domestic eq ..read more

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management has added Tyler Cantarano as a research analyst, the firm announced today. Cantarano’s primary responsibilities are within the information technology, consumer discretionary and communication services sectors and he reports directly to Head of Research Todd Beiley, the firm said. He began in the new position on April 8, a spokesperson confirmed, in an e-mail. Cantarano spent four years at Franklin Templeton, most recently serving as an equity analyst working on small-cap and mid-cap equity funds, and prior to that was an investment associate at ..read more

The $3.9 billion San Antonio Fire & Police Pension Fund approved a pair of alternatives commitments at this week’s investment committee meeting, CIO Cary Hally said, in an e-mail. The committee approved commitments of $25 million to MGG Investment Group’s MGG Structured Solutions Fund II and $20 million to KKR Global Infrastructure Investors V at its April 24 meeting. The commitments are subject to approval by the full board, which is scheduled to meet on April 30. The plan has previously committed to KKR Global Infrastructure Investors IV and made commitments to lending funds with MGG in ..read more

The $700 million Massachusetts Water Resource Authority Employees’ Retirement System approved a private equity secondaries RFP at today’s board meeting, according to live video. The plan will seek private equity managers focused on the secondaries market to handle a proposed allocation of $12 million to $18 million and the search stems from a private equity pacing plan presented by general investment consultant NEPC at last month’s board meeting. A time frame for issuance of the RFP, which will be posted to NEPC’s website, was not mentioned at the meeting, The plan’s private equity and debt po ..read more

The $228 million Natick (Mass.) Contributory Retirement System has issued an RFP seeking private debt managers. The plan is looking to commit to a manager offering a dedicated direct lending strategy and may select more than one firm, according to the RFP, which notes the plan expects to make commitments up to $20 million to the selected mandates. Approximately 68% of the plan’s assets are managed by SEI Investments, 29% is invested with the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Trust and the remaining 3% is in a short-term cash account with BNY Mellon, according to a Dec. 31 investment re ..read more

Brittenay Banh has been appointed principal and head of investor relations and capital formation at Palistar Capital, the firm announced today. Banh is responsible for driving Palistar’s investor relations strategy and leading capital formation initiatives to support continued growth, the firm said. Most recently, Banh was v.p. of capital formation and investor relations for DigitalBridge, which she departed in October, her LinkedIn profile shows. “We are thrilled to welcome Brittenay to Palistar and to have her be a part of our talented team,” Founder and Managing Partner Omar Jaffrey said, i ..read more

Mass General Brigham is searching for an investment operations analyst to support its externally managed investment portfolios, which total more than $24 billion across endowment, operating and pension assets, and be responsible for investment operations and technology initiatives, according to a posting for the position. The Boston-based health network is seeking an analyst to support and drive process improvements in areas of performance reporting, portfolio accounting and interactions with its custodian, process capital calls and distributions of private equity funds, work with the inv ..read more

Pennington Partners & Co. has hired former Bryn Mawr College Director of Investments Wendy Xu as a managing director of private markets this month, according to her LinkedIn profile. Xu is tasked with providing “investment advice, income tax minimization and wealth planning, and financial administration solutions” for the Bethesda, Md.-based investment firm, which serves family offices and individual entrepreneurs, she said, in a LinkedIn post. It was unclear if Xu replaced current or former staff at the firm as a spokesperson did not respond to an e-mail. Xu most recently served as an adv ..read more

The Ohio University Foundation added distressed credit, hedge fund-of-funds and mezzanine debt strategies to its portfolios totaling approximately $1.2 billion last year, according to documents obtained by Nonprofit News. The Athens, Ohio-based university foundation approved a distressed credit commitment totaling approximately $18 million to Brighton Park Capital’s BPC Opportunities Fund V that totaled “up to 1.5% including co-investments for both” its approximately $934 million long-term endowment and $220 million Century Bond Fund during its Aug. 14 investment committee meeting, according t ..read more

The University of Alabama System approved private equity commitments with new and existing managers within its approximately $2.26 billion Pooled Endowment Fund and the addition of a short-duration fixed-income manager within its $3.87 billion Liquidity and Capital Reserve Pool (LCRP) at its April 11 investment committee meeting, according to a webcast. The Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based system approved committing $20 million each to Sterling Group Partners VI, and Northlane Capital Partners III within its endowment as recommended by general investment consultant FEG Investment Advisors at the meeting ..read more