By Susan Barreto
In spite of a lot of hurdles, New York State Retirement Fund has become an institutional market leader in direct hedge fund allocations. In the last 18 months, the retirement fund has completely rebuilt its hedge fund portfolio so that it is now a world-class show piece of hedge fund investing, not withstanding the volatile mix of political scandal and poor performing markets.
Indeed, the New York State Retirement Fund has become the focal point on the rolodex for any aspiring single manager. Most recently, an allocation of $250 million to London-based emerging markets total return specialist Finisterre Capital propelled the firm to a new level. According to EuroHedge, the allocation is one of the New York State's largest single hedge fund investments to date.
Not satisfied with simply the size and diversity of its hedge fund portfolio - which saw more than $1.3 billion in hedge...