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Shawcapfactoring - Three New York City pension funds have showered nearly $1 billion on three hedge funds.

The pensions for the Big Apple's police, firefighters and public employees awarded $350 million mandates to Brevan Howard Asset Management and D.E. Shaw Group. Brigade Capital Management will run $200 million.

The mandates at a stroke triple the pensions' hedge fund allocation, which now totals $1.35 billion. The plans, with a combined $70 billion in assets, have a $3 billion hedge fund target.

"We have put together a hedge-fund program that will help further diversify our portfolio and guard against volatility in the market," a spokesman for New York City Comptroller John Liu said.

Two other city pensions, for its teachers and educational administrators, have no hedge fund allocations at all.