Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, Toronto, is considering entering the U.S. securitized real estate market. REITs are the most likely option.
The move would signify a major change in investment strategy; the fund currently has no real estate investments outside Canada. Since its inception in 1990, the C$51 billion (U.S. $36 billion) fund changed its target asset mix to 75% equities from 100% domestic fixed income.
Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Iron Workers Local 207, Boardmen, Ohio, is considering a fixed-income manager search.
Trustees at the $15 million fund terminated Dana Investment Advisors, which invested $6 million in SBA loan pools, said Lanny Burton, chairman of the pension committee. He was unsure if a full-scale search will be done to replace the firm, or if the money will be left in a money market fund.
Segal Advisors is assisting.
Phoenix Duff & Phelps soon may replicate the investment style it uses in two retail international equity funds for institutional separate accounts.
The firm also might create institutional versions of the Phoenix-Aberdeen New Asia and Global Small Cap mutual funds, said spokeswoman Barbara McLaughlin. The funds are a joint venture between Phoenix Duff & Phelps and Aberdeen Trust.
Northern Indiana Public Service Co., Hammond, Ind., moved $25 million to the Templeton Emerging Markets Fund from an active, separately managed EAFE portfolio run by Templeton for its $870 million pension fund. The separate portfolio was reduced to $60 million. LCG assisted.
Vermont Treasurer James H. Douglas is looking for ways to increase in-state investments by the $776 million state teachers' fund, $701 million state employees' fund and $101 million municipal employees' fund. Mr. Douglas is meeting this week with Wilshire Associates to discuss how much should be invested locally; he'll report to the fund boards in September. Together, the three funds have about $5 million in in-state investments.
SEARCHES & HIRINGS
Arlington County (Va.) Retirement System today selected Mellon Capital to manage $160 million in a core TAA portfolio. Funding will come from cutting allocations to existing stock and bond managers, said Bruce Kallos, administrator of the $800 million fund. Fund officials and their consultant, Ashford Capital, are negotiating a contract that includes a cap of 40 basis points on Mellon's fees.
San Antonio (Texas) Fire & Police Pension Fund hired Rothschild to run a $30 million U.S. small-cap value equity portfolio. Assets will come from a manager being terminated; Wier Labatt, executive director of the $880 million fund, declined to name the firm. Other finalists were Loomis. Sayles; Westport Asset; and Rosenberg Institutional. Towers Perrin assisted.
Teamsters Local 734, Chicago, hired Fiduciary Management and Great Lakes Advisors to manage $5 million each in midcap equities, said Erwin Pasch, administrator of the $130 million fund. Funding will come from reducing the allocation to Killian Asset Management, which will continue to run $110 million in a balanced portfolio.
Investment Performance Services assisted.
University of Washington, Seattle, committed $2 million of endowment assets to Arch Venture Fund III, said Alison Borland, assistant treasurer of the $448 million fund. Cambridge Associates assisted.
U-Haul International, Phoenix, hired Vanguard as investment manager for its $61 million 401(k) plan. The Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund and the Vanguard Wellington Fund replaced the Fidelity Spartan Fund and Fidelity Balanced Fund July 1. Trustees wanted to move due to the lower cost, said Samuel Briggs, chairman of the advisory committee.
Ingram Entertainment Inc., LaVergne, Tenn., hired Barclays Global Investors MasterWorks Group as a semi-bundled provider for its defined contribution plan and Vanguard Group, Janus, and Pilgrim Baxter as mutual fund managers for its new cash balance plan, both formed as a result of a recent spinoff from Ingram Industries.
Barclays is providing four equity options with a fifth stable value option being offered by Sanford C. Bernstein for the new $5 million DC plan, said Ed Triplett, vice president and treasurer. Two or three funds may be added later this year from Merrill Lynch, which is in the process of forming an alliance with MasterWorks, he added. For the $35 million cash balance plan, Vanguard will run an S&P 500 index fund and a growth equity fund; Janus, an international equity fund; and Pilgrim Baxter, a small-cap equity fund.
Bank of Crittenden, Crittenden, Ky., hired Fifth Third Bank to provide custody services, said Doug Thompson, vice president for Bank of Crittenden. Central Bank & Trust previously provided trust services
