The $110bn (€69.6) Teacher Retirement System of Texas will give $1bn each to four US asset managers in the first stage of a new investment programme established by the fund.

BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley have won mandates out of an initial short-list of 13 fund managers, TRS said on Friday. The pension scheme expects the four to manage more assets in the future to “significantly develop” their relationships beyond the $1bn mandates.