# Reams Asset Management A division of Scout Investments. Affiliated within Raymond James Investment Management's "Partners in Asset Management" structure, which includes Chartwell Investment Partners, ClariVest Asset Management, Cougar Global Investments, Eagle Asset Management, Reams Asset Management, and Scout Investments. In this batch Reams is the manager selected by ATRS to run the Israel bond mandate authorized by the 6/2/2025 Board action. The selection sequence runs through Aon partner PJ Kelly. After Mark White's 5/8/2025 directive to Rod Graves, Aon explored manager candidates. On 5/28/2025 Matt Waz at Raymond James Investment Management sent Kelly a Reams analysis of USD-denominated Israeli sovereign debt and pitched Reams as manager. The fee quoted was "3 basis points." Kelly forwarded to Graves the same day with the framing "FYI - a compelling offer from Reams from a few perspective but they are light on experience with Israel bonds but have non-US bond experience and resources." Graves's reply on 5/29/2025 was "Just give me a call when you want to discuss." The 6/2/2025 Board action authorized hiring Reams. The 6/4/2025 Google Alert in this batch references a PressReader article: "The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System's trustees on Monday authorized hiring Scout Investments Inc. through its Reams Asset Management division." The 6/4/2025 internal exchange between Donna Bumgardner and Rod Graves confirms that the new account was understood within ATRS as "the new 'REAMS' fund which will hold the Israel Bonds." Graves indicated the account would not open until after fiscal year end pending contracting and Legislative review, with the option to open a shell account at State Street and assign Reams as manager once contracting completed. Reams's documented qualifications for this mandate per the 5/28/2025 Waz analysis: experience with USD-denominated bonds and non-US debt, but not specifically Israel bonds. Its identified analytical view was that ten-year USD-denominated Israeli sovereigns offered the "sweet spot given liquidity" at approximately 130 basis points spread to US Treasuries, and that the Premium Jubilee retail-focused issuance from DCI carried a $1 million minimum increment in 5-, 10-, and 15-year maturities. The mandate as eventually executed combined US Treasuries, USD-denominated Israeli sovereigns, and Jubilee bonds, "with the goal of layering into these 'Jubilee' bonds." The Kelly characterization "light on experience with Israel bonds" is the most evidentiarily significant acknowledgment in this batch about manager qualification. It is documented within the same forward in which the offer was transmitted, indicating the consultant was aware of the gap and disclosed it to ATRS staff prior to the Board vote. The materials in this batch do not show ATRS soliciting alternative managers, conducting an RFP, or evaluating managers with documented Israel bond experience. ## Evidence > "FYI - a compelling offer from Reams from a few perspective but they are light on experience with Israel bonds but have non-US bond experience and resources." > PJ Kelly to Rod Graves, Emails3.pdf p.31, 5/28/2025 > "Reams would be open to managing some form of treasuries, USD-denominated ISRAEL debt with the goal of layering into these 'Jubilee' bonds. The fee would be 3 basis points." > Matt Waz to PJ Kelly, Emails3.pdf p.31-32, 5/28/2025 > "Lastly and most importantly, Reams would be happy to manage these assets / bonds on behalf of Arkansas Teachers." > Matt Waz to PJ Kelly, Emails3.pdf p.33, 5/28/2025 > "Can you give us a timeline on the new 'REAMS' fund which will hold the Israel Bonds. Mainly, I am looking at year end and if you think the account will / should be opened before our fiscal year end?" > Donna Bumgardner to Rod Graves, Emails5.pdf p.7, 6/4/2025 > "At this time I anticipate the account will not open until after fiscal year end. We have to go through the contracting process and Legislative review. If it is better for you I guess we could go ahead and open a shell account at State Street and assign Reams as manager after the contracting process has been completed." > Rod Graves to Donna Bumgardner, Emails5.pdf p.8, 6/4/2025 > "The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System's trustees on Monday authorized hiring Scout Investments Inc. through its Reams Asset Management division" > Google Alert citing PressReader, Emails5.pdf p.13, 6/4/2025 ## Cross-References [[matt-waz]] Reams sales contact via Raymond James Investment Management [[pj-kelly]] Aon partner who forwarded the Reams pitch [[rod-graves]] [[mark-white]] ATRS staff who selected Reams [[atrs-resolution-2025-22]] concept page on the action that selected Reams [[independent-credit-analysis-gap]] concept page that includes Reams's documented inexperience ## Reams in Resolution 2025-22 (7/3/25 production) The 7/3/25 supplemental ATRS FOIA production produced the verbatim text of Resolution 2025-22 (06-02-25_BOT_Packet.pdf p.151). The operative manager-selection clauses: > "FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that the ATRS Board approves Scout Investments, Inc., through its Reams Asset Management division, as the third-party investment manager for this mandate; and / FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED, that Scout Investments, Inc., through its Reams Asset Management division, may utilize various investment vehicles and strategies including public and private issues of Israel Bonds, U.S. Treasuries, U.S. dollar, Israeli shekel, foreign currency hedging, and other investment vehicles deemed appropriate by Scout Investments, Inc., through its Reams Asset Management division, to implement and manage this mandate over time" > 06-02-25_BOT_Packet.pdf p.151 The permissible-vehicles clause is broad. Reams has discretion to invest in public and private Israel Bonds (institutional Jubilee, retail eMazel Tov, USD SEC-registered Israeli sovereigns, USD RegS Israeli sovereigns), in U.S. Treasuries, in U.S. dollar and Israeli shekel positions, in foreign currency hedging instruments, and in "other investment vehicles deemed appropriate by" Reams. The substantive limit on Reams's authority is the $50M cap and the residual fiduciary obligations under BP4 Section A and the Arkansas pension code; not the asset universe. The Resolution does not specify a laddered five-year structure ($10M per year over five years) that Mark White had described in his 5/22/2025 Board preview email. Whether Reams implements the laddered structure in practice is a question of the executed contract and Reams's investment discretion, not the Resolution text. [[atrs-foia-r1-staff-emails]] [[atrs-bot-packets-7-3-25]] source pages ## Auditor R3 3-3-26 production: the December 2025 $50 million capital call execution The Auditor R3 production at [[auditor-foia-r3-3-3-26]] documents Reams's December 2025 execution of the full $50 million Israel Bonds capital call authorized by Resolution 2025-22. Rod Graves' 12/29/2025 11:23 AM ATRS Board Update-Liquidity email confirms: > *"This includes the Scout (Reams) mandate of $50 million for Israel Bonds and $50 million of the $100 million commitment to the Realty Income US Core Plus Fund."* Significance: - Reams deployed the full maximum within approximately six months of the 6/2/2025 Board action, not the laddered five-year deployment Mark White's 5/22 Board preview had proposed - The deployment is consistent with the broad discretionary authority Resolution 2025-22 grants ("Permissible vehicles are broad: 'public and private issues of Israel Bonds, U.S. Treasuries, U.S. dollar, Israeli shekel, foreign currency hedging, and other investment vehicles deemed appropriate by Scout Investments, Inc., through its Reams Asset Management division'") - The specific bond purchases Reams made (CUSIPs, maturities, coupon rates, settlement dates, secondary-market vs. primary-issue distribution) are not in the wiki and are a FOIA follow-up target The wiki's prior framing of the Reams mandate as a Mark White-styled five-year laddered deployment is corrected to the documented single-quarter $50 million capital call. See [[atrs-reams-capital-call-execution]] for the structural analysis of the ladder-vs-single-call disjunction. The funding source for the December 2025 capital call ($100 million withdrawal from SSgA Global Index Fund plus $140 million withdrawal from BlackRock Global Index Fund) is the wiki's first documented evidence of ATRS divesting from passive bond index funds to fund direct active Israel Bonds purchase. The natural-experiment effect is documented at [[ssga-cmx6-2024-11-30]] and [[atrs-reams-capital-call-execution]].