Alaska Permanent Fund
JUNEAU, Alaska - Trustees of the $15.5 billion Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. authorized its existing custodian, Bank of New York, to begin securities lending for the first time, pending negotiations, said Jim Kelly, research liaison officer and spokesman for the fund.
The fund would allow the custodian to lend all of its $8 billion in domestic fixed-income securities.
American Home Products
NEW YORK - American Home Products Corp. hired Target Investors to run a midcap growth equities portfolio for its pension fund. A spokesman for the company confirmed the hiring but declined to provide details.
The company has about $580 million in pension assets.
Robert Bosch Corp.
BROADVIEW, Ill. - Robert Bosch Corp. picked Twentieth Century Services to provide record keeping and investment management for its $68 million defined contribution plan, said Dave Davis, benefits manager.
Twentieth Century Mutual Funds will provide six of the seven investment options. The other new option is Bankers Trust's Capital Preservation Trust. Twentieth Century replaces William M. Mercer for record keeping and LaSalle National Trust as trustee and investment manager, said Mr. Davis.
"We thought that a bundled approach would be more appropriate for our organizational needs," he said.
Bryan Memorial Hospital
LINCOLN, Neb. - Bryan Memorial Hospital hired new managers and a new trustee as a result of an asset allocation study.
The $26.7 million defined benefit plan hired Crestone Capital to manage $2 million in small-cap equities; Pacific Investment Management to run a fixed-income portfolio of an undisclosed size; and Norwest Bank as trustee.
The fund was almost entirely invested in GICs and BICs and was seeking to move into more active management, said Bob Foley, benefits manager. William M. Mercer assisted.
District of Columbia Retirement
WASHINGTON - The $2.6 billion District of Columbia Retirement Board hired Cowen & Co. to manage $52 million in small-cap value equities.
The board hired Cowen to replace Provident Capital Management, which was terminated earlier this year following several staff departures.
Fremont Investment Advisors
SAN FRANCISCO - Fremont Investment Advisors hired Acadian Asset Management to manage its new Fremont International Small Cap fund, and Morgan Grenfell to manage its new Fremont U.S. Microcap Fund.
The international fund may invest in the smaller stocks of both developed and emerging markets; the microcap fund will invest in companies with an average market capitalization of $80 million.
Greater Worcester Foundation
WORCESTER, Mass. - The $38 million Greater Worcester Community Foundation Inc. hired six new money managers, using the recommended asset allocation and diversification guidelines of its new consultant, Prime Bucholz and Associates.
Ann T. Lisi, executive director, said four equity managers were hired: Trust Co. of the West for $4.4 million in large-cap core stocks; Lynch & Mayer, $2.2 million in midcap growth stocks; Harris Associates, $2.2 million in small-cap value stocks; and the EuroPacific Growth mutual fund of Capital Research & Management, $4.4 million in international equities. Also hired were Allmerica Asset Management for $5 million in domestic fixed income and Standish, Ayer & Wood for $3.8 million in global fixed income.
Three local banks, which Ms. Lisi declined to identify, were terminated to fund the new hires. Another $16 million is managed by a local law firm she wouldn't identify.
Kent County Council
MAIDSTONE, England - The 860 million ($1.4 billion) Kent County Council Superannuation Fund has hired DTZ Debenham Thorp to take over a 60 million real estate portfolio from Richard Ellis, said Nick Hicks, head of estate services. The change was a result of a competitive tender, but no reason for picking Debenham Thorp was offered. Both firms are based in London. No consultant was used.
Lawyer's Title Insurance
RICHMOND, Va. - Lawyer's Title Insurance Corp. hired three stock managers to run an undisclosed amount of its $180 million in corporate funds, said Ronald Ramos, assistant treasurer. Hired were MacKay-Shields, Provident Investment Council and Nicholas-Applegate. Smith Barney assisted.
Lifeyrissjodur Verlunarmanna
REYKJAVIK, Iceland - The 35 billion Icelandic kronar ($530 million) Lifeyrissjodur Verlunarmanna pension fund, selected Schroder Investment Management to handle the fund's first non-Icelandic investments, said Thorgeir Eyjolfsson, managing director. Schroder will be charged with allocating an undetermined amount of assets into the global equity and global bond portions of the Schroder International Selection Fund. The Icelandic fund, also known as the Pension Fund of Commerce, will fund the account from new cash flows.
J.A. Jolliffe was the consultant.
Lehigh Portland Cement
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The more than $100 million pension fund of Lehigh Portland Cement Co. hired Glenmede Trust to handle non-U.S. equities. Fund officials wouldn't provide additional information.
Massachusetts Bay Transit
BOSTON - The approximately $1 billion Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Retirement Fund hired four global equities managers for a total of $40 million. Seligman Henderson and Morgan Stanley Asset Management received $15 million each; Clemente Capital and Towle/Johnson, $5 million each. The latter two are considered emerging managers, said John J. Gallahue Jr. the fund's executive director.
Funding came from cash and some reallocation in U.S. equities. No managers were terminated.
Massachusetts PRIM
BOSTON - The $4.8 billion Massachusetts Pensions Reserve Investment Management Board graduated ValueQuest to regular manager status from its farm team, said Executive Director Gregory White.
ValueQuest will manage $150 million in large-cap value stocks, Mr. White said. It had started out managing $12 million in that asset class, and increased it to $13 million in less than 10 months, he said. The board hasn't decided whether to replace ValueQuest on the farm team.
Medford Retirement System
MEDFORD, Mass. - Trustees for the $55 million Medford Retirement System hired two apartment real estate managers to split between $1 million and $1.5 million, according to Gilda Antolini, executive secretary. Hired were Corcoran Jennison Apartment Fund and Metric Institutional Realty Advisors. Funding will come from reducing a cash account with State Street Bank, the retirement system's custodian.
Nebraska State Investment
LINCOLN, Neb. - The $1.4 billion Nebraska State Investment Council hired EverGreen Capital Management to manage $20 million in pension assets in a value equity portfolio. Wilshire Associates helped in the search. Officials for the fund did not return calls.
New York State Teachers
ALBANY, N.Y. - Trustees of the $40 billion New York State Teachers' Retirement System voted to hire four international fixed-income managers for $400 million each, said Don Blaha, a spokesman for the fund.
Hired were: Fiduciary Trust Co. International, Lombard Odier International Portfolio Management, Putnam Investments and Wellington Management Co.
Funding will come from cash.
Ohio Police & Firemen
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Trustees for the $4.6 billion Ohio Police & Firemen's Disability Pension Fund hired Schroder Mortgage Associates to manage $30 million in a private mortgage REIT fund, a spokeswoman for the pension fund said. The money is part of the pension fund's commitment to commercial mortgages. The Townsend Group assisted with the search.
Oklahoma Police Pension
OKLAHOMA CITY - The $665 million Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System completed a round of new manager hirings, picking TCW to manage a $61 million large-cap growth portfolio. M.C. Robertson & Associates is consultant.
Oklahoma Public Employees
OKLAHOMA CITY - The $2.5 billion Oklahoma Public Employees' Retirement System hired TCW and Alliance Capital Management as growth equity managers and Scudder, Stevens & Clark as a value manager.
TCW and Alliance each will run $175 million for the employees' fund and $6.5 million for the $55 million Uniform Retirement System for Justices and Judges of the State of Oklahoma. Scudder will run $200 million for the employees' fund and $6.7 million for the judicial system.
Funding was from a reallocation of assets from Newbold's Asset Management and Sunbank Capital Management, which were terminated. SEI is the consultant.
Old Dominion Electric
GLEN ALLEN, Va. - The $30 million Old Dominion Electric Cooperative nuclear decommissioning trust hired William M. Mercer Asset Planning as a prelude to an asset allocation study, said Kirk von Seelen, director-treasury services.
Mr. von Seelen said the fund hasn't made any manager changes in almost two years. Mercer will also do manager selection and performance evaluation for the trust.
Selected Family of Funds
SANTA FE, N.M. - The Selected Family of Mutual Funds hired Bramwell Capital Management to take over portfolio management of its $50 million Selected Special Shares mutual fund. The fund's previous internal portfolio manager, Shelby Davis, will concentrate on the other two funds he manages, the New York Venture Fund and the Selected American Shares Fund.
Singapore Investment Corp.
SINGAPORE - The Government of Singapore Investment Corp., the arm that invests the government's money, has hired Credit Lyonnais International Asset Management (HK) for a US$50 million mandate to invest government funds in the stocks of Asia-except-Japan, according to Philip A. Godfrey, resident manager, North America, for Credit Lyonnais.
Skokie Police Pension
SKOKIE, Ill. - The $40 million Skokie Police Pension Fund hired NBD Bank, pending contract approval, as sole manager, said Robert Nowak, director of finance. Assets had been managed in-house. The fund is required to invest at least 90% of assets in fixed income.
Southbridge Town Retirement
SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass. - The $6 million Southbridge Town Retirement System hired INVESCO to manage 10% of its portfolio in international equities, said Pamela Leduc, chairman of the board. The money came from cash. Segal Advisors assisted.
St. Louis Firemen
ST. LOUIS - Trustees for the $290 million Firemen's Retirement System of St. Louis hired Abacus Financial Group to manage a $5 million fixed-income portfolio, said John Brewer, executive director. Abacus will receive an additional $5 million within a year, he said. Funding will be from cash.
State College Borough
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The $7.5 million State College Borough Police Pension Fund and the $6.5 million State College Borough General Government Employees Pension Fund both will invest 60% in bonds and 40% in equities through ICMA's equity income, growth stock, core bond and U.S. Treasury securities funds, said Ronald A. Davis, assistant borough manager.
The funds previously were managed by The People's National Bank of State College, Mr. Davis said. "We had no dissatisfaction with the bank, but we felt ICMA offered us a wider range of investment options. We liked their multimanager approach."
Strong Funds
MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. - Strong Funds selected W.H. Reaves & Co. as a subadviser for a new utilities fund. The fund will invest in public utility companies including electric utility, telephone, natural gas and energy companies.
Swan Hunter
WALLSEND, England - Swan Hunter Shipbuilding & Engineering Group Ltd., which is shutting its doors by the end of the year, has transferred its 57 million ($93 million) pension fund to a bond portfolio managed by Legal & General Investment Management, said Raymond Dixon, pensions manager.
Previously, the pension fund was run by balanced managers Henderson Pension Fund Management and Baillie Gifford.
Trustees now must decide whether to maintain the plan as a closed plan, or to terminate it. While the plan is fully funded on an ongoing basis, it is about 30% underfunded on a termination basis, Mr. Dixon said. Watsons Investment Consultancy assisted.
