Tucson Supplemental Retirement System trustees may approve Oct. 23 a new asset allocation and decide whether to do manager searches, said Mike Parisi, treasury administrator.
The changes would be based on the results of an asset allocation study now under way by Hewitt Associates. If the study isn't approved at the October meeting, action may be taken the following month.
The $378 million fund's current asset mix is 40% U.S. large-cap equities, 10% U.S. small-cap stock, 28.5% U.S. bonds, 9% international stocks, 7.5% international bonds, 5% real estate.
Manchester (Conn.) Retirement Allowance Fund will discuss adding a fixed-income manager and other alternatives at a Sept. 15 board meeting. The Hannah Group will make recommendations to trustees of the $80 million fund.
Following an increase in equities due to recent stock market gains, the additional manager will help bring the fund's asset allocation back into line, said Alan Desmaris, director of finance.
ValueQuest had the top international equity return in the second quarter PIPER survey. The firm's international contrarian value equity strategy returned 17.65% for the quarter ended June 30.
Two portfolios from Capital Guardian scored second and third in the survey. The firm's international composite account returned 16.13% for the quarter; its commingled fund returned 15.99%.
U.K. life insurance companies outsource less than 5% of their £770 billion ($1.23 trillion) in assets, and show little sign of change, a survey conducted for Templeton Investment Management found.
The survey of 19 CIOs of British life insurers flies in the face of conventional wisdom that insurers will externalize money management, said Douglas Adams, business planning director, Europe. In comparison, U.S. insurers have outsourced 17.4% of $2.3 trillion in assets.
More than half of U.K. insurance outsourcing - worth some £1 billion to £3 billion a year in new cash flow - will be invested in emerging markets, the survey found. The bulk of the remainder will be invested in U.K. equities.
Newcastle Fund Management filed a final prospectus for apublicly traded fund of hedge funds, called the Newcastle Market Neutral Trust. Newcastle will seek to invest with hedge funds that have 15 market neutral styles, said James Sinclair, vice president with Newcastle Capital Management Inc., the fund's adviser. The expected trust size will be between C$100 million and C$200 million (U.S. $72 million and $145 million).
The trust received conditional approval for listing on the Toronto and Montreal exchanges.
Charles Schwab introduced a fourth fund-of-funds portfolio in its OneSource program. The Small Company Fund combines a portfolio of no-load mutual funds chosen from the 550 individual small-cap funds offered within the OneSource program.
Vontobel USA, an affiliate of Vontobel Group, launched two new mutual funds - Vontobel Eastern European Debt Fund and Vontobel Emerging Markets Equity Fund - and a new cash account trust. The new funds bring to six the number of Vontobel SEC-registered no-load mutual funds. The funds will be invested as of Sept. 1. They will be marketed to individuals and smaller institutions in the U.S. Vontobel also launched comparable Luxembourg-registered funds for investors elsewhere in the world.
SEARCHES & HIRINGS
Commercial Intertech Corp., Youngstown, Ohio, selected American Century Investments as bundled service provider for its $36 million 401(k) plan, said John Chewning, manager of corporate compensation. American Century will provide 11 American Century mutual fund options, as well as record keeping, administration and communications.
Mr. Chewning wouldn't reveal Commercial Intertech's previous providers.
Anderson Memorial Hospital, Anderson, S.C., hired INVESCO to manage $3 million in an international equity separate account for the hospital's $40 million defined benefit plan. Funding will come from cash. Morgan Keegan assisted.
WHO'S NEWS
Horace Elkins, administrator of the $600 million City of Baton Rouge (La.) & Parish of East Baton Rouge Employees' Retirement System, retired after 25 years with the city. Jeff Yates, assistant administrator, was named administrator.
Jack Chang joined Putnam Investments as a vice president and portfolio manager in the international equities group.
Mr. Chang most recently was a partner and vice president at Columbia Management, where he managed the Columbia International Fund. Columbia officials did not return calls regarding a replacement for Mr. Chang
