UA System investment committee approves changes to asset allocation, terminates two managers and adds S&P 500 index and Arrowstreet mandate

Trustees on the University of Alabama System Investment Committee approved a set of investment changes after a presentation from Nolan Bean of Fund Evaluation Group recommending shifts in asset-allocation targets and manager line-up.

Bean told trustees the system’s pooled endowment and Liquidity & Capital Reserve Pool (LCRP) had produced strong absolute returns but that the public-equity sleeve had lagged the pooled endowment benchmark. He framed a 2025 market backdrop driven by artificial-intelligence-related capital spending and said private markets remain competitive, prompting a recommendation to reduce future commitments to some private allocations. “We’re starting today at this meeting to get that public equity portfolio performing better,” Bean said.

The resolutions read into the record asked trustees to amend Board Rule 4.04 to modify asset-allocation targets for both the pooled endowment fund and the LCRP; to terminate the contracts of two public-equity managers (Poland Capital’s focused-growth mandate and the Emerging Markets manager identified in materials); and to invest approximately a 3% position in each pool in a Northern Trust S&P 500 Index Fund and an approximately 4% position in each pool in an Arrowstreet Capital global equity strategy.

Justin Fanning, assistant vice chancellor for investments and treasury, presented the formal language of the resolutions and recommended approval. After a motion and second and no further discussion, the committee voted in favor and the resolutions were approved.

Why it matters: Trustees reduced targets for certain private-markets allocations (private debt and some private real assets) to moderate future commitments and fees, and reallocated a portion of those targets into public equities, fixed income and diversifying strategies. The action is explicitly aimed at improving near-term public-equity performance while maintaining long-term private exposure.

What was not decided: The presentation included recommended manager terminations and new allocations to be implemented by staff; precise implementation timing, exact fund tickers and final trade execution dates were not specified in the meeting record and were not stated on the record.

Next steps: Staff will implement the terminations and purchases consistent with the approved resolutions and any applicable procurement or custodian procedures; trustees did not set a separate follow-up vote in the meeting.