Howard County (MD) Commits $15M to Private Credit, Hires EAFE Manager

As expected, the joint retirement plan committees of the Howard County Police and Fire Employees’ Retirement Plan and the Howard County Retirement Plan selected MFS International Equity to manage the pension’s Europe, Australia, and Far East (EAFE) strategy, while also making a $15M commitment to an opportunistic credit fund.

In recently published minutes from the joint committee meeting, it disclosed approving a motion to adopt consultant NEPC’s recommendation to make a $15M commitment to private credit strategy Backcast Credit Opportunities Fund II, pending legal due diligence.

The committee also approved a recommendation of its investment committee, previously reported by Dakota News on October 10, to hire MFS International Equity as its new EAFE manager, replacing Baillie Gifford EAFE. Fidelity and Walter Scott were also in consideration. The committee further agreed to allocate $75M to MFS International Equity, with the commitment funded via the reallocation of assets from Baillie Gifford.

According to Dakota data, the pensions manage $1.38B in assets.

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