LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System, with $6.2 billion in assets, was expected to issue an RFP late last week for a large-capitalization growth equity manager.
The manager will receive an estimated $320 million, money from the recently terminated Chancellor LGT. A spokesman said Chancellor was discontinued primarily for reasons concerning investment performance and personnel turnover. No one at Chancellor could be reached for an immediate response.
The staff will do the search with assistance from Asset Strategy Consulting.
Massachusetts PRIM
BOSTON - The $21 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board has issued an RFP for advisers to manage a $100 million portfolio of REITs funded from cash, said Collette Chilton, fund chief investment officer.
The RFP may be obtained from Ms. Chilton or from the Internet at ftp: ftp.mapension.com. The deadline is Oct. 10.
PRIM expects to hire one or more firms to actively manage a portfolio of real estate securities in a discretionary relationship, said Ms. Chilton.
Townsend Group is assisting.
Vassar College
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The $490 million endowment for Vassar College will be searching for an LBO firm to manage part of the fund's private equity/venture capital allocation over the next six months, said Jay Yoder, director of investments.
The fund recently increased the allocation to the asset class to 7%from 5%of total assets. The source of funding for the increase has yet to be determined.
Cambridge Associates will assist in the search.
Banta Corp.
MENASHA, Wis. - The Banta Corp.'s $85 million fund is conducting a search for a small-cap value fund manager for a $10 million portfolio, said Gerald A. Henseler, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
The new manager will replace a firm the fund dropped. Mr. Henseler would not identify the terminated manager. SEI Capital Resources will assist.
Fairfax County
FAIRFAX, Va. - The $1.4 billion Fairfax County Supplemental Retirement Fund is searching for its first enhanced index manager, said Don McCorry, acting executive director. Trustees will review results of a questionnaire sent out to managers at the Oct. 1 meeting.
The search was prompted by an updated investment philosophy adopted by the board, Mr. McCorry said. The money for the new manager will come from rebalancing the fund's equity portfolio.
After this search is completed, the fund will consider adding another domestic small-cap manager to its roster. The fund currently has two managers, Acorn and Morgan Stanley Asset Management, managing around $102 million totally, he said.
Vermont State Employees
MONTPELIER, Vt. - The Vermont State Employees' Retirement System is searching for its first U.S. small-cap stock manager to diversify its $800 million-plus portfolio at the recommendation of its consultant, Wilshire, said James H. Douglas, state treasurer.
The fund has not yet decided where the money will come from, or whether to hire a growth or value manager. Trustees probably will review finalists in the small-cap search in October, he said.
The system also decided to add $40 million to an S&P 500 index fund managed by Alliance Capital Management, which now has $47 million. Money will come from cutting back the allocation to Delaware Investment Advisers, which had $177 million in domestic large-cap value equities.
Mr. Douglas said the move was not performance related, "but simply a rebalancing because we are very heavy on the value side in domestic equities."
Pennsylvania Municipal
HARRISBURG, Pa. - The $800 million Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System, Harrisburg, has started a search for its first timberland real estate manager, which will manage $20 million.
The fund's trustees approved the search to help round off the real estate allocation at 10%of total assets. The funding for the new manager is expected to come from cash.
James B. Allen, chairman of the board, said he expected a decision at the board's November meeting. Dahab Associates is assisting.
Rhode Island State Investment
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Rhode Island State Investment Commission approved the preparation of RFPs for U.S. structured core equity managers in a restructuring of its $2.6 billion U.S. equity portfolio. No timetable has been determined.
The portfolio division will be 25%active value equity, 25%active growth and 50%passive and structured core equity managers.
The bidding will be open to the nine incumbent managers as well as new firms. Amounts have yet to be specified.
Wilshire Associates is assisting.
Separately, the $5.3 billion fund will commit $15 million to Doughty Hanson Co. III Fund, an European private equity fund. Pacific Corporate Group assisted.
Vermont State Teachers
MONTPELIER, Vt. - The $900 million Vermont State Teachers' Retirement System is searching for a domestic small-cap growth manager to manage $50 million that will come from liquidating the $88 million domestic portion of a $148 million global mandate with Scudder, Stevens & Clark, said James H. Douglas, state treasurer.
Scudder will continue to manage $60 million in the international stock portion of the global portfolio, he said.
The system will give the remaining $38 million of Scudder's domestic portion to Fidelity Investments in a domestic large-cap growth stock portfolio. Fidelity now runs $149 million in U.S. large-cap growth stocks for the system. Callan is assisting.
Trustees will review finalists in the small-cap search Oct. 27.
