Apr 5, 2024
Texas to Replace Ousted BlackRock with Dimensional and Intech
Bloomberg News
,(Bloomberg) -- The Texas Permanent School Fund has selected Dimensional Fund Advisors and Intech as new money managers after announcing it would terminate BlackRock’s management of $8.5 billion in assets last month.
Dimensional Fund Advisors will manage the largest share of assets, but the fund has not yet set allocation splits, according to a spokesperson for Texas Permanent School Fund. The spokesperson said the fund is working to select additional managers.
Read More: BlackRock Ditched by Texas Fund Shows Limits of Fink Persuasion
In March, the Texas PSF announced it would divest from BlackRock in the wake of a 2021 Texas law that restricts investments with companies that engage in so-called boycotts of the fossil-fuel industry. The money manager is on a list of financial companies that state Comptroller Glenn Hegar considers to engage in such a boycott.
BlackRock criticized Texas’ decision to end the two contracts with the firm, calling the move “reckless” and detrimental to the finances of the state’s schools and families. In response to a public records request, the Texas PSF said there were no costs and fees to terminate BlackRock as manager of assets, which include an international equity portfolio and a fund called the Navarro 1 Fund LLC.
The contracts are being terminated as of April 30, PSF said in letters to BlackRock last month.
The Texas PSF has more than $53 billion under management which are used to support the state’s public schools.
Dimensional Fund Advisors, an Austin-based investment firm that has more than $670 billion under assets, didn’t immediately provide a comment. Intech is a West Palm Beach-based quantitative firm that spun out of global asset manager Janus Henderson two years ago. Intech didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
--With assistance from Silla Brush.
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