Generale de Banque, Belgium's largest bank, is expected to acquire Harbor Capital Management. Officials at the bank and Harbor declined comment until tomorrow. Harbor, an active stock and bond manager, has $5 billion under management.
Prudential Portfolio Managers, London, will absorb £15 billion ($25.3 billion) of life and personal pension assets formerly run by Scottish Amicable Investment Management, Glasgow, bringing total assets under management to £106 billion ($178.8 billion). The changes follow Prudential's acquisition of SAIM in March. Also, Scottish Amicable's £800 million institutional pension fund business has been sold to Britannia Investment Managers, also in Glasgow.
A review by the insurer concluded it no longer was economically viable to continue managing the assets in Glasgow, a Prudential official said. SAIM has a staff of 125, of whic 25 are fund managers. About 20 people will move to Britannia, 10 of them fund managers. Prudential also is looking at transferring the remaining 15 fund managers to its offices in London, but the back office staff will be let go at the end of this year.
Pillsbury Co., Minneapolis, plans to consolidate its U.S. equity managers for its $1.1 billion pension fund, said John E. Bohan, vice president-pension investments.
The fund will maintain its 55% allocation to U.S. equities. The fund, which now has eight equity managers running nine portfolios, expects to cut the number of portfolios to seven during the next 12 months. Current managers are: Alliance Capital, which has two growth-oriented portfolios; Boston Partners, Brinson Partners, Dietche & Field and MacKay-Shields, all value equities; Sit Investment and TCW Group, small-cap growth; and State Street, an equal-weighted S&P 500 index fund.
SEARCHES & HIRINGS
Hartmarx Corp., Chicago, will be hiring an international equity manager and a U.S. bond manager for its $185 million defined benefit plan, said James Condon, vice president and treasurer.
Mr. Condon said the international hiring, for about 6% of assets, will be completed in about a month; he has just begun reviewing managers for the allocation. The fixed-income search will begin in early September. He hopes to finish it by year-end. Work is being done internally. To fund the hires, the plan dropped its domestic equity allocation to 60% from more than 70%, he said.
The fund also might buy about 600,000 shares of company stock as follow-up to its purchase of about 400,000 shares already this year, Mr. Condon said.
Ventura County Employees Retirement Association, Ventura, Calif., retained Asset Strategy Consulting after including eight or nine outside firms in a search.
The $1.5 billion fund will conduct an asset allocation study in the fall. Van Perris, retirement manager, expects the study to be finished in November.
National Service Industries, Atlanta, invested $50 million of its $130 million defined benefit plan in the Vanguard Institutional Index fund.
The change was part of a decision to move to passive management for the large-cap stock allocation, said Russell Watson, assistant treasurer. Mr. Watson declined to name the active manager terminated to fund the hire. Towers Perrin assisted.
Redland Aggregates North America, Hunt Valley, Md., hired Vanguard to provide quasi-bundled services for its new $50 million 401(k) plan.
The company's British parent decided to combine the various retirement plans of its four North American subsidiaries into a single plan, said Pam Zerba, North American benefits specialist. The combined plan goes live Aug. 1. Vanguard will manage five of eight investment options. Two Templeton international funds also are offered, as well as the PBGH Aggressive Growth Fund. Vanguard will provide daily valued record keeping, trust and administration and employee education and communication.
Beloit Clinic, Beloit, Wis., hired Vanguard to provide bundled services for its $50 million 401(k) plan.
Eight options, all managed by Vanguard, were selected for the plan, together with daily valued record keeping, trust and administrative services. Vanguard also provides employee investment education and communication services, said James Ruethling, administrator. The plan went live July 1.
The clinic previously used quarterly record-keeping services from the Chering Co. and had six options by multiple managers.
WHO'S NEWS
Paul E. Pender was named vice president-finance and treasurer of Northern States Power Co., Minneapolis. He replaced Arland D. Brusven, who retired. Mr. Pender will help oversee more than $2 billion in employee benefit assets. He was an assistant treasurer. His position won't be filled
