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HPS Hosts Educational Webinar on Direct Lending

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TEXPERS Hosts Educational Webinar

Pension Industry Thought Leaders Discuss Outsourced CIO Relationships During Online Moderated Event

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay 

TEXPERS Staff Report

What are the general duties of pension plan consultants and outsourced chief investment officers? TEXPERS gathered industry thought leaders for an educational webinar to give the trustees and administrators of TEXPERS' Member Systems advice on what pension plans should do to take stock of their funds' advisory relationships.

During the webinar, held Sept. 15, a moderator used a question-and-answer format allowing the panelists to identify some of the differences between non-discretionary and discretionary advisory models.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar. Those wanting to watch the video will be required to register for access.

During the session, the panel:

• Outlined some decision point considerations for plan trustees.
• Illustrated some of the more nuanced differences between the services.
• Revealed what the economic and market upheaval brought by the novel coronavirus pandemic has taught.
• Took audience questions relating to advisory relationships and the markets in general.

Mark Weir, from Maples Group, moderated the webinar. The expert panelists were Jim Link, from PFM; Chris McGoldrick, from PNC; and Robert Longfield, from CBIZ.

Future Webinars

TEXPERS is hosting educational webinars to help in the professional development of its Member Systems' trustees and administrators. Additional webinars are being planned.

The next webinar, Direct Lending – The Benefits of Scale and Differentiated Sourcing, will be held at 10 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020.

Synopsis: Since the Global Financial Crisis, investors globally continue in their search for yield, shifting capital from public to private markets, with private debt emerging as an attractive asset class for institutional investors seeking an illiquidity yield premium.

With the private debt market currently estimated to be ~$850 billion and likely to grow, in this webinar, Michael Patterson, Governing Partner and Portfolio Manager of Direct Lending Strategies at HPS Partners, will share insights on how best to extract attractive risk-adjusted returns through differentiated sourcing capabilities.

Topics will include:

• Non-sponsor lending: not just sourcing, it’s about execution.
• Utilizing scale as a competitive advantage.
• Opportunities to find excess returns persist at the larger end of the lending market.

Click here to register.

For an up to date listing of webinars, click here to visit TEXPERS Online Education link on the association’s website.

Earn Continuing Education Credits

New and Continuing pension system trustees and administrators who attended live webinars can earn one credit hour to satisfy state-mandated Continuing Education. To earn the credit, attendees are required to sit through the entire presentation, participate in polling questions during the session, and answer a survey emailed to attendees after the webinar. Those who do not sit through the webinar are unable to earn credit.

For additional information, email texpers@texpers.org or visit our website. Also, be sure to follow TEXPERS on Facebook and Twitter.

Janus Henderson Presents Educational Webinar

The Session is Part of a New Series of Online Learning Aimed at 

Pension Fund Trustees and Admins

Screen capture of Sept. 9, 2020, webinar hosted by TEXPERS and presented by Janus Henderson Investors.

TEXPERS STAFF REPORT

The Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems and hosted an online discussion on the often overlooked risk and return benefits of adding Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to a broader real estate portfolio.

The educational webinar was present by Janus Henderson Investors on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

> ON DEMAND: Click to watch a recording.

Danny Greenberger, portfolio manager of Global Property Equities, and Guy Barnard, co-head and portfolio manager of Global Property Equities, at Janus Henderson lead the educational session. 

Over the last decade, institutional investors have turned to a range of private investments – equity, debt and real estate – in search of higher returns, said Geenberger and Barnard. However, they added, that while private equities and debt have outperformed their listed counterparts for the past 20 years, the same cannot be said in real estate. According to their presentation, many public plans are significantly underweight Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) relative to the size of the asset class.

During the webinar, Janus Henderson's Global Real Estate Team highlighted the benefits of an allocation to REITs, including:

• The ability to access "non-core" property types – such as self-storage, cell towers, data centers, single tenant net lease and manufactured housing – with long-term cash flow growth opportunities;
• The ability to be more nimble when shorter-term market opportunities arise;
• Daily liquidity

As an Accredited Sponsor of the Pension Review Board of Texas, TEXPERS provided 1 credit hour of Continuing Education credits to pension plan trustees and administrators who attended the live webinar, participated in polling questions, and entered a code provided at the end of the webinar in a post-event survey.

Although a recording of the webinar is available for on-demand viewing through TEXPERS' GoToWebinar platform, only those who sat through the live session are eligible to earn the training credit. 

The webinar is part of a series of educational sessions meant to assist public pension system trustees and administrators earn state-mandated training hours. TEXPERS established the educational series in place of in-person programming that was to take place during the association's Annual Conference and Summer Educational Forum, which were canceled this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

TEXPERS hosted a webinar in May and another in July as part of the educational series. Additional webinars are scheduled and association staff are organizing more sessions.

Upcoming Online Learning

Webinar | Taking Stock of Your Advisory Relationship: Outsource CIO, Consultants, and the Market
Presented by PFM LLC, PNC Capital Advisors, & CBIZ Inc.
10 a.m. CST on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020
Qualifies for 1 credit hour for Basic or Advanced Trustee Training in Investments.

Webinar | Direct Lending - The Benefits of Scale and Differentiated Sourcing
Presented by HPS Investment Partners
10 a.m. CST on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020
Qualifies for 1 credit hour for Basic or Advanced Trustee Training in Investments.

Mandated Training Hours

Texas law requires the Pension Review Board to establish a Minimum Educational Training Program for trustees and system administrators of state and local public retirement systems. The PRB's Minimum Educational Training requirements include core and non-core topic areas. New trustees and administrators must earn a minimum of 7 hours of training within their first year of service. Continuing trustees and administrators must receive a minimum of 4 hours of training every two years after their first year of service. 

TEXPERS is offering credit training hours for core and non-core topics. New trustees and administrators needing additional first-year training may do so online through the PRB's website.

>ADDITIONAL TRAINING: Pension Review Board MET Info

Webinar Replays

In May, TEXPERS hosted Controlled Acceleration: Using Derivatives to Manage Pension Plan Risk, Return & Liquidity. Sponsored by TEXPERS Consultant Member River and Mercantile, the webinar is accessible through the association's blog.

>WEBINAR REPLAY: Controlled Acceleration

In July, TEXPERS hosted COVID-19: Impact on a Pension Plan's Liquidity. Also sponsored by TEXPERS Consultant Member River and Mercantile, a replay of the webinar is accessible through the association's blog.

>WEBINAR REPLAY: Impact of COVID-19 on Liquidity

PRB Investment Committee Meets Online Sept. 29

The Pension Review Board Investment Committee meeting will be 

streamed online on its YouTube channel

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay 

Staff Report 

The Texas Pension Review Board will host its Investment Committee meeting by teleconference at 10 a.m. CST on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020.

Click here for the meeting agenda.

The committee meeting will be streamed online on the PRB’s YouTube channel. That link will be available on the PRB homepage, www.prb.texas.gov, before the session begins.

The PRB encourages anyone who wants to provide public comment to pre-register with the PRB’s Office Manager, Lindsay Seymour, by Sept. 29, 2020, at 8 a.m. CT. To pre-register, call 512-463-1736 or 800-213-9425. Or, send an email to prb@prb.texas.gov.