Mass. pension likely to drop BlackRock

BOSTON – The Massachusetts state pension fund is seeking to replace BlackRock Inc., the world’s biggest money manager, because it “lacks confidence that the firm is adequately focused” on fixed-income markets, Bloomberg News reported.
The board of the $42.9 billion fund voted unanimously last week to shift about $1 billion from BlackRock’s actively managed bond portfolio to the firm’s passive fixed-income fund while it reviews asset allocation and seeks a new manager. BlackRock manages $3.6 billion of the state’s bond portfolio.
There’s been a “diminished emphasis on core fixed income” at New York-based BlackRock as the firm expanded since it was hired in 1999, wrote fund officials in their report to the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board. &#8226