Fort Worth Employees’ backs PIMCO’s distressed credit fund

The $2.3 billion Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund has approved a commitment of up to $20 million to a distressed credit fund managed by Pacific Investment Management Co., executive director Benita Falls Harper disclosed in an email.

The investment in the PIMCO Distressed Senior Credit Opportunities Fund III (PIMCO DISCO Fund III) was approved at a special board meeting held on April 6.

The investment strategy of the fund’s predecessor, PIMCO DISCO II, was to focus on senior and super senior structured securities, including commercial mortgage-backed securities, credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations. That fund launched in October 2011.

As of Dec. 31, 2019, the Fort Worth Employees’ Retirement Fund had met its 13 percent target allocation to the real estate asset class.