The University of Alberta’s $850m endowment fund will commence a search for an emerging markets equities manager in the coming months, Asia FM has learned.

The Alberta, Canada-based university fund currently has very little exposure to the emerging markets. “We have some emerging market investments via our global equities investments but we are looking for something a little more dedicated,” Roy Ritter, director of investments at the University of Alberta, told Asia FM.

The University has penciled in a search for the new manager for this summer and will allocate around $30m to $50m to the fund.  “We are particularly looking for an all caps emerging market manager,” added Ritter.

As at the end of 2009, the University of Alberta has some exposure to Asian emerging markets through its investments with Brandes Investment Partners which has an active international equity mandate that includes Europe, Australia, the Far East, and emerging markets, and Walter Scott & Partners Limited which had some Far East exposure.

Meanwhile Ritter added that the endowment is also gearing up to increase its hedge fund allocation from 3% to 8% of its portfolio. Currently it invests $25m across two funds of hedge funds – BlackRock Alternative Advisors and JP Morgan Alternative Asset Management.