CalSTRS Winnows Candidate List for China Equities Manager

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System announced it has narrowed its list of possible fund managers for its China stock portfolio to 19, with no set number of managers to be selected.

“In August 2022, we issued a China RFP to find out if there may be a better way to implement our existing China equity exposure,” read an emailed statement from CalSTRS.

“Every investment manager we select will be required to follow CalSTRS’ ESG risk factors when making investment decisions,” the pension fund stated. “A dedicated China manager could provide more specialized expertise on the ESG aspects of the China market compared to a broad global emerging markets approach.”

According to the pension fund, placement in the pool of remaining candidates does not guarantee a manager will receive an allocation, and there could be no allocation.

“Actual allocation size would be determined based on the needs of the CalSTRS Global Equity Portfolio, quality and capabilities of the pool manager(s), and overall attractiveness of the market at the time of investment,” read the statement.

When it issued the RFP last year, CalSTRS announced plans to establish three investment strategy categories targeting China, according to the RFP published on its website, Reuters reported. Two of the three would focus on greater China equities and onshore Chinese stocks, while the third would be benchmarked to the MSCI China Index.