America's Favorite Chicken
ATLANTA-America's Favorite Chicken Co. retained American Express Institutional Services as bundled service provider for its $11 million savings 401(k) plan. American Express will offer administration, record keeping, trust and investment education. Angie Colwort, benefits manager, said four lifecycle funds will be offered but additional investment funds will be considered in the future. American Express replaces NationsBank.
Earth College
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - The Earth College endowment fund hired two managers for U.S. equities investments, Putnam Investments and Trusco, which will receive $20 million and $10 million, respectively. The $95 million endowment also hired Sovran Capital for a $5 million portfolio of U.S. bonds. The size of all three portfolios is expected to double within the next year, said Randall Teague, a board of trustees member of the college.
Funding for the portfolios came from investments in Costa Rica, mainly in public and private sector bonds.
Florida State Board
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida State Board of Administration hired two international core equity managers.
Sprucegrove Investment Management and Blairlogie Capital Management each will manage a portion of the $60 billion fund, following contract negotiations. Specific amounts have not been finalized for each manager, said Tom Herndon, executive director.
The funding for the hires will come from cash and the termination of international manager Valu-Trac Investment Management.
Officials conducted the search in-house.
Separately, the fund may terminate two domestic equity managers.
Mr. Herndon would not name the managers or how much they manage.
Holy Name Hospital
TEANECK, N.J. - Holy Name Hospital selected New York Life Benefit Services to administer a new 401(k) plan.
The hospital terminated its $25 million defined benefit plan and will launch the new plan this summer. Peter Noble, director of human resources, said the bulk of the assets will be moved into the new 401(k) plan.
Eight investment offerings will be available, most from New York Life, as well as three lifecycle funds.
Indiana University Foundation
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana University Foundation hired Snyder Capital Management for its $600 million fund, said Walter L. Koon Jr., vice president and director-investments. Snyder will run $40 million in a small- to midcap value equities. Assets will come from a reallocation.
Fund Evaluation Group assisted in the search.
K&B Inc.
NEW ORLEANS - K&B Inc. hired Zak Capital to manage a $15 million domestic midcap growth equity portfolio for K&B's $100 million 401(k) plan, replacing Investment Advisers Inc. Zak Capital is the firm opened last month by former IAI portfolio manager Suzanne Zak. Prudential Securities assisted. No other searches are planned.
Lakeland Employees
LAKELAND, Fla. - Lakeland Employees Retirement System hired Rice, Hall, James & Associates as a small-cap equity manager for a $25 million portfolio.
This is the $240 million pension fund's first small-cap manager in a long while, said Gary Clark, pension funds administrator. The funding will come from cash and reallocation among existing managers. No managers are expected to be terminated. Advest assisted.
Lufkin Industries
LUFKIN, Texas - Lufkin Industries Inc. has hired Zak Capital to manage a midcap domestic equity account of approximately $20 million, replacing Investment Advisers Inc. Watson Wyatt assisted. No other searches are planned.
Northern Trust Global
STAMFORD, Conn. - Northern Trust Global Advisors a manager of managers, hired National Mutual Funds Management (Global) Ltd. as an Asia-except-Japan equity manager. For the new assignment, initially $10 million, will come from cash flow, said Edgar Barksdale, president of Northern Trust Global.
Northern Trust Global, formerly RCB Trust, has slightly more than $6 billion under management. It conducted its manager search in-house.
Oklahoma Police
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System hired Asset Consulting Group as its new consultant, replacing M.C. Robertson & Associates.
Robert Wallace, executive director of the $875 million fund, said M.C. Robertson is being replaced as of May.
He said once Asset Consulting has familiarized itself with the system's operations, searches will be conducted for domestic fixed income and midcap equity managers.
PhyCor Inc.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - PhyCor Inc. made several changes to its $300 million defined contribution plan, cutting fund options to 12 from 14.
The GlobeFlex Growth Fund offered by GlobeFlex Capital was replaced by a fund of funds containing the MFS Research A Fund and the Janus Fund. The Templeton Foreign Fund was added to PhyCor's foreign equity option and the Franklin Small-Cap Growth Fund was added to Phycor's aggressive growth fund of funds.
John Von Arb, manager of benefits, said the pension fund dropped the Vanguard/Wellington Fund and a balanced portfolio managed by Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley.
The firm also picked Northern Trust to replace Swats and McCallister as record keeper. Northern will handle the company's employee-stock fund and self-directed option, as well as its stable value, fixed-income and S&P 500 index fund.
Northern Trust Asset Consulting assisted.
Portland General Corp.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland General Corp. hired Numeric Investors as a small-cap equity manager for its 401(k) plan.
Numeric will manage $15 million in a new microcap allocation in the small-cap equity option with three existing managers, said Mahendra Shah, principal analyst for the $320 million plan.
Separately, plan officials terminated W.H. Reaves, which managed $28 million in equity, and Hoisington, which handled $5 million in fixed-income. Their assets were reallocated among existing managers.
Collins Associates assisted.
Rhode Island State Investment
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Rhode Island State Investment Commission committed $10 million to Texas Pacific Group Partners II L.P. for the $4.7 billion State Employees' Retirement System.
The additional commitment is part of the plan's $255 million target allocation to alternative investments, said Steve Klamkin a spokesman. A total of $115 million has been placed in alternative investments so far with more commitments expected later in the year. Assets will come from existing managers. Pacific Corporate Group assisted.
St. Joseph's Hospital
PATERSON, N.J. - St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center hired Bank of New York to manage a balanced account for its general operating fund. Assets for the account will come from cash. The search was done in-house.
Southeastern Pa. Transit
PHILADELPHIA - Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority hired New England Pension Consultants as consultant for its $350 million pension fund.
New England replaces Fiduciary Capital Advisors, which had been with the fund since 1988. The board felt it was time to issue an RFP, said Kurt Weidenhammer, assistant treasurer.
Southwire Co.
CARROLLTON, Ga. - Southwire Co. added the Alliance Growth Fund to its defined contribution plan to replace American Funds' AMCAP Fund. Plan officials felt the long-term performance of the Alliance fund was better, said Frank E. Deems, vice president of finance. Mr. Deems would not reveal the size of the employee-directed plan. American Funds will continue to provide the plan's remaining four options. PaineWebber assisted.
Stanislaus County
MODESTO, Calif. - Stanislaus County Retirement Association hired Putnam to run $20 million in its core international equity commingled fund. Putnam beat out Capital Guardian and Scudder, Stevens & Clark for the $675 million fund's new mandate. Assets will come from cash. SEI Capital Resources assisted.
Sun Chemical Corp.
FORT LEE, N.J. - Sun Chemical Corp. hired Standish, Ayer & Wood to manage small-cap equities and Nicholas-Applegate Capital to manage international equities. Each will run 9%of its $150 million defined benefit plan.
Assets came from termination of John Hancock Capital Growth Management.
Asset allocation changes were the reason for the termination, said David Lieber, manager of treasury financial management. The search was done in-house.
Vulcan Materials
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Vulcan Materials hired two U.S. equity managers to replace Chicago Corp., which managed $61 million for both the defined contribution and defined benefit plans in growth stocks.
State Street Research and Management will manage $11 million in a Russell 1000 Growth index fund for the $225 million defined contribution plan. For the $335 million defined benefit plan, J.P. Morgan will run $25 million in an enhanced S&P 500 fund and Trinity Investment, an existing value equity manager, will handle $25 million in an S&P 500 fund. Trinity also manages $75 million in value equity for both plans,
Chicago Corp. was terminated over long-term performance concerns and a shift in the defined benefit plan's investment style, said Wayne Houston, director of compensation and benefits. Chicago Corp. officials declined to comment. Wilshire assisted.
Washington State Investment
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington State Investment Board committed to three new partnerships.
The $37 billion fund placed $50 million with RSTW Partners L.P. III, $100 million with WCAS Capital Partners L.P. III and $100 million with JER Real Estate Partners L.P. RSTW and WCAS are mezzanine partnerships; JER invests in distressed real estate debt. Assets will come from cash. Brinson Partners assisted with alternative partnerships and Pension Consulting Alliance with real estate.
