US Steel to shutter investment office – Exclusive

The pension fund for the US Steel Corporation will be cutting staff as it moves to outsource its investment functions, including in real estate.

United States Steel and Carnegie Pension Fund, the trustee for the pension and other benefit plans of Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corporation, intends to cut its entire investment staff as it moves to outsource its investments.

The transition is expected to occur over the next couple of quarters. The pension fund is currently conducting a search for a firm to provide outsourced chief investment officer services.

UCF had 72 employees, of which 17 are investment professionals, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among those professionals is Ione Wilsmann, the pension fund’s head of real estate investments, who joined UCF in 2014 from Quilvest Real Estate, PERE previously reported.

New York-based UCF, which was established in 1914, manages the assets of several defined benefit pension plans and retiree medical and life insurance plans sponsored by US Steel, as well as several defined benefit plans sponsored by other clients and a non-profit foundation sponsored by US Steel.

UCF invests across six broad asset classes, including short term investments, publicly-traded stocks and bonds, real estate, timber and private equity. The pension plan typically invests in real estate and private equity through private investment funds, while its timber assets are managed by a third-party investment management firm and are held through limited liability companies.

UCF had $252 million in real estate funds, along with $156 million in unfunded commitments, and $273 million in private equity funds as of December 31, according to US Steel’s 2016 annual report. UCF’s timberland holdings were not specified in the report.

UCF had nearly $9 billion of regulatory assets under management as of March 30, according to the SEC filing.