US – US pension fund giants CalSTRS and CalPERS are putting together a database of emergent asset management companies in a bid to gain access to “untapped talent”.

They say the database aims to broaden the investment opportunities for public and private pension funds.

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System said the joint effort would build a “first-of-its-kind database” of providers.

“The effort, which is being led by New York-based Altura Capital, will target money managers, private equity funds, private equity funds of funds, private real estate investments, REITs, hedge funds, hedge funds of funds, consultants, emerging manager program managers, broker dealers and research firms,” the two funds said.

Interested firms can join the database free of cost at www.alturacap.com.

“CalSTRS and CalPERS aim to capture a wide universe of untapped talent in the investment industry to broaden diversity investment opportunities for public and private pension funds, promote transparency and access to capital, and develop a better understanding of emerging investment firms,” the funds added.

“This database will help expand the diversity of ideas and people in our $142bn investment portfolio,” said CalSTRS’ investment chief Christopher Ailman.

“We believe the database will help us to achieve good investment returns and build an investment portfolio that taps into the changing demographics and talent emerging in California and the nation.”

“We recognize that diversity is a competitive advantage in business and for our investment portfolio,” said Anne Stausboll, interim CIO at CalPERS. “This database will help us to identify and track new and emerging investment talent.”

“The goal of the database is to expose CalSTRS, CalPERS and other institutional investors to the first layer of information about emerging firms,” said Monika Mantilla, Altura’s CEO.

Investment firms have 90 days to review the participation criteria and complete an online questionnaire. The deadline to join the database is July 17.

The database will be made available to participants, plan sponsors, endowments, corporations and other institutional investors.

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