Illinois Teachers Shifts Private Equity Allocation –

The $22 billion Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System has adopted a new asset allocation mix that more than doubles its private equity allocation to 7%, boosting it by $880 million, and bumps international equities by 6%, or $1.3 billion, said Executive Director Keith Bozarth.

Bozarth said it has yet to be determined whether the private equity increases will mean manager searches, but he did not rule them out. The fund is a little short of its previous 3%, or $660 million, private equity allocation.

“The next step will be to make recommendations to the board on manager structure,” he said. “[Searches are] possible. But our goal would be … to make use of existing managers where there’s a good fit.”

The board will consider manager structure at its October meeting. The new allocation was adopted in July following an asset allocation study completed by Strategic Investment Solutions, San Francisco.