Cook County Commits $130M to PE, Swaps Russell for Rhumbline in Growth Equity

The Cook County Annuity and Benefit Fund committed a total of $130M to two Mesirow private equity funds and has also approved a change of hands for its Russell 1000 growth equity mandate. 

According to recently released board minutes from the pension’s September 5 meeting, the pension made a $120M investment to the Mesirow Private Equity 2025 fund of funds, and another $10M commitment to Mesirow Private Equity Fund IX through the pension’s Forest Preserve District Fund. The said allocations for 2024 to 2025 were recommended by the investment committee based on a report by consultant Callan showing continued strong performance by the pension’s private equity portfolio.

Additionally, Cook County terminated its Russell 1000 Growth Equity mandate, representing approximately $585M in assets, following discussion on fee arrangements with its previous manager Russell Investments. Assets were transitioned to the pension’s existing passive equity manager Rhumbline, which had provided a lower fee structure to manage the mandate.

Callan assisted Cook County in discussions for both the private equity allocations and the manager change.