HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-25-RB-min
Minutes of the April 25, 2024 Retirement Board meeting:
Present: Robert Cunha, Joseph Foley, Alan Fields, Frederick Weiss, Carolyn Kosnoff, Michelle Malone
and Jim Condon
Absent: None
The Lexington Retirement Board met remotely through Zoom tele-conferencing. The Town Clerks Office
posted the meeting, which included the information for any interested party to join the call. Robert
Cunha, Joseph Foley, Alan Fields, Frederick Weiss, Carolyn Kosnoff, James Condon and Michelle Malone
were present for this meeting. Robert Cunha called the meeting to order at 8:30 am.
The Board accepted the 043024 Warrant and the April payroll. The March minutes were reviewed and
approved. The Financial cashbooks were unavailable at the time of the meeting.
Robert Cunha reviewed the March agenda with all Board members and staff in attendance.
It was noted the Retirement Board received a distribution from Monroe Capital on 03/28/24 in the
amount of $100,752
Steve MacLellan and Henry Juang presented the Meketa update at 8:36 am. The portfolio balance as of
March 31, 2024 was $236,003,522.00, up $7.7m from the previous month. Meketa is still working on
the private debt manager confirmation, just waiting to hear back from Law Offices of Michael Sacco and
Chris Collins. The closing with Neuberger will not happen until mid-summer.
Performance wise, US Equity markets (Russell 3000 index) rose 10% in the first quarter of 2024. The
Technology sector continues to perform well. The non US developed equity markets increased by 5.8%
in the quarter. This is attributed to Japanese equities hitting a multi-decade high. The interest rate in
the US remains high, meaning a recession in late 2024 or early 2025 could be looming. Fidelity
Contrafund continues to be hot, up 18% QTD, while RhumbLine is up 10.3%. Fixed income remains flat.
Golub was up 3.3% QTD, while the others hovered around 1 %. Overall, the portfolio is in good position
st
after 1 Quarter of 2024. No major changes needed in the next month or two. The presentation
wrapped up at 8:50 am.
Denise D’Entremont presented the RhumbLine Advisors review at 9:00 am. RhumbLine is a Russell 1000
pooled index fund. The portfolio for Lexington is up 10.27% thru March 31, 2024. Denise mentioned
Lexington invested $21m net when they entered RhumbLine, and it is now valued at $55m. Some of
their top holdings include Microsoft and Apple Inc. The top 10 holdings for RhumbLine make up 30% of
the portfolio. The asset classes are Domestic Equity, Domestic Fixed Income and International Equity.
She mentioned the structure of the portfolio is set and performing well. There is not a need to make
any changes at this point. However, she cautioned us of unsettling times ahead this fall with the US
Presidential election in November. Denise then spoke of the organizational chart for RhumbLine and
then briefed the Board on Composite Returns thru December 31, 2023. Her presentation wrapped up at
9:20 am.
Ken Solano, Ken Baumgartner, and Scott Chandler presented the Wellington Enduring & Opportunistic
review of the portfolio at 9:30 am. Ken began the review by announcing that Wellington and Lexington
had been partners now for 20 years. He then gave a short overview of the firm and leadership
initiatives. Scott Chandler went over the Opportunistic objective and approach. They deal with
exposure to opportunities that are underrepresented in most traditional portfolios. The goal is to
combine fundamental insights to implement long term positions in non-core and out-of-favor market
segments. Wellingtons ideal long term strategic themes are in the 1-5 year zone, while anything short
term is 1-12 months. His thematic insight can be found in the presentation deck on page 13. Scott
concluded with the Lexington performance overview. We were up 11.9% over the past 1 year. Since
May of 2019, it was at 8.2%.
Ken Baumgartner detailed the Enduring investment objective and approach. This investment objective
is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns over time by investing in infrastructure businesses.
Wellington focuses on an efficient trade-off between risk and reward with companies that reinvest at
high incremental returns via growth. This portion of the portfolio is up 9.5% over the past 12 months.
Oil, gas storage and transportation have been the key drives of the fund. Artificial Intelligence chips are
driving up the needs of above mentioned. European utilities are helping this positive trend. Ken
wrapped up his presentation at 10:02 am.
At 10:05 am, Robert Cunha made a motion to adjourn the meeting, which was seconded by Fred Weiss,
and unanimously approved by Carolyn Kosnoff, Alan Fields, and Joseph Foley.
The next Retirement Board meeting will be held via Zoom on Thursday, May 23, 2024 at 8:30 am.
Angelo Gordon will present their review at 9:00 am.
_____ __________________
Robert Cunha, Chairman Alan Fields, Appointed Member
Carolyn Kosnoff, Ex Officio Member Joseph Foley, Elected Member
Frederick Weiss, Appointed Member