New England Investment Cos. will purchase investment manager Daniel Breen & Co., which has $2.4 billion in assets under management, and merge it with existing NEIC affiliate Vaughan, Nelson, Scarborough & McConnell. Terms were not disclosed.
The new entity, to be called Vaughan, Nelson, Scarborough & McCullough, will have $4 billion in assets and be led by Eugene Vaughan Jr., now president and CEO of Vaughan Nelson. Edward S. McCullough, president and CEO o f Breen, and J. Frank Scarborough, principal of Vaughan Nelson, will become managing principals of the new firm. The new firm will offer equity and fixed-income management and trust services.
The move will bring NEIC's total assets under management, through affiliates, to $121 billion.
San Luis Obispo County Employees' Retirement System, San Luis Obispo, Calif., plans to double its allocation to equities under a new asset mix, said Tony Petruzzi, executive s ecretary.
The $300 million fund, now internally managed, might eventually seek the use of outside managers for a portion of the fund. Such a recommendation could be made to the board before the end of the year. The new allocation, which the board hopes to fund over five years, is 40% equities, 50% fixed income, 10% real estate. The old mix was 20% equities, 70% fixed income, 8.5% real estate and 1.5% cash.
Gabriel Roeder & Smith, the fund's actuarial firm, a ssisted.
Chesapeake Corp., Richmond, Va., will do an asset allocation study before the end of the year, said Thomas Smith, vice president-human resources. p;The study will follow divestitures of some of the company assets, which will decrease the size of the corporation's $160 million defined benefit plan. It's likely Mercer will conduct the asset mix review, Mr. Smith added. The plan's current allocation is 56% equities, 25% bonds, 7% small-cap equities, 7% European equities and 5% cash, according to Money Market Directory.
