Storage Technology Corp., Louisville, Ky., may drop Fidelity's Overseas Fund and Magellan Fund from its 401(k) plan.
``When our investment consultant compared the Magellan and Overseas options to the standards (including performance) that he established for our current and future funds, they did not pass,'' said Terri Evans, manager benefits, in a letter to employees. Participants are prohibited from transferring money into the two options until January, when the company plans to evaluate the funds' performance again with help from Innovest Portfolio Solutions.
The plan has $166.6 million in assets, according to Nelson's Directory of Plan Sponsors.
West Virginia Gov. Cecil Underwood will sign legislation Friday merging the state Board of Investments and the West Virginia Trust Fund into a new organization, the West Virginia Investment Management Board. The board will manage all $5.4 billion in state assets, including the roughly $3.5 billion in pension fund assets. The new organization is being created because the state Supreme Court last month ruled the trust fund unconstitutional and upheld a constitutional ban on investing state money in stocks.
The trust fund was created in July after the Legislature voted to remove the ban on investing in equities. In a special election Sept. 27, voters will decide whether to lift the constitution's ban on stock. The board of the new organization, chaired by Mr. Underwood, will elect a vice chairman Friday. H. Craig Slaughter, executive director of the West Virginia Board of Investments, will be acting executive director.
Median equity fund returns lagged the S&P 500 for the quarter and the year ended March 31, according to PIPER's commingled funds report.
The median overall equity fund, from the universe of 312 equity funds, returned 1% for the quarter and 16.6% for the year, compared with the S&P 500's 2.7% and 19.8% for the same periods. The median large-cap equity fund returned 1.8% for the quarter and 17.7% for year, handily beating the median small-cap fund, which returned -5% and 8.7% for the quarter and year respectively.
The median value equity fund returned 1.6% and 17.5% for the quarter and year respectively. The median growth fund lost 2.3% during the quarter and gained 11.4% for the year.
For commingled bond funds, the median limited duration fund returned 0.6% for the quarter; the median intermediate duration fund returned -0.1%. Both beat the Salomon Broad bond index, which returned -0.5%. For the year, the median limited duration fund returned 5.3% vs. 4.9% for the index. The median intermediate fund returned 4.9% for the year
