Texas Teachers’ London chief departs

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) has started 2016 by reshuffling the management of its first overseas outpost.

Vaughn Brock, who set up TRS’ London office last year and oversaw all its operations, left the US pension at the beginning of the year, according to a farewell note he sent to Infrastructure Investor. A spokesperson at TRS later confirmed his departure by email.

No reason was given for the stepping-down, with neither Brock nor TRS responding to a request for comment on the question.

Brock has now been replaced by Allen MacDonell, previously the senior director of private equity for TRS. The spokesperson, probed on the move’s rationale, noted that the leadership change doesn’t reflect a change in investment strategy.

The institution launched its UK office, its first and only international base, last September. It aimed to leverage its European presence to increase investment deal flow with a focus on co-investments, it said in a statement following the launch.

“By opening a London office, we will redeploy existing resources so they are closer to where the action is. This will also help us reduce unnecessary travel back and forth from Austin,” said TRS executive director Brian Guthrie then.

“Even though our London presence will be small – only three people – we’ll be ready to hit the ground running to identify new investment opportunities in real time.”

TRS has since inception committed to a total of 28 infrastructure and energy funds, according to Infrastructure Research & Analytics. It most recently invested in Stonepeak Infrastructure Fund II, which reached a final close earlier this week on $3.5 billion.