KeyQuant, a Paris-based systematic asset management company, has secured a USD100 million allocation from the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) of the State of Illinois.

The investment decision was made after KeyQuant met TRS’ investment criteria for maturity, risk management, liquidity and transparency and was made directly from the pension fund’s USD3.2 billion Absolute Return Portfolio.
 
“Since our firm’s inception, KeyQuant has won notable hedge fund, CTA, and financial industry awards and recognition, as well as a devoted following among quantitative investors seeking uncorrelated returns. This substantial new mandate from TRS is an important step as a wide range of clients continue to broaden their investment portfolios with KeyQuant,” says Robert Baguenault de Viéville (pictured), co-founder of KeyQuant.
 
The TRS investment played a key role in KeyQuant growing assets under management (AUM) from USD180 million to USD320 million over the course of 2016.
 
Outside of TRS, KeyQuant won additional allocations throughout the year from a wide variety of investors including European and American corporate pensions, insurance companies and fund of hedge funds.
 
“At KeyQuant, we are committed to managing a first-class alternative asset management firm. We know that high-caliber institutional investors such as TRS demand the best of the firms to which they allocate their members’ assets,” says Raphael Gelrubin, co-founder of KeyQuant. “We’re excited to take on this significant investment and we continue to focus our resources on research, risk management and operation teams.”