The median equity fund in PIPER's commingled universe handily beat the S&P 500 in the third quarter, according to PIPER's Flash Report for Commingled Funds.
The overall median equity commingled fund returned 10.3% for the quarter, compared with the S&P 500 at 7.5%. Small-cap fared the best, with the median small-cap growth fund returning 16.8% for the period.
For the year ended Sept. 30, the small-cap value median fund trounced the S&P 500, gaining 45.5% compared with 40.5% for the index, while the median small-cap growth commingled fund returned only 26%.
In other PIPER commingled equity categories, only the median core large-cap equity fund beat the S&P, returning 40.9% for the year. The same median fund returned 8.4% for the quarter, underperforming all other categories.
In PIPER's commingled bond universe, the median broad market fund returned 3.4% for the quarter and 9.9% for the year, compared with 3.3% and 9.7%, respectively, for the Salomon Broad Bond Index. The median limited duration bond fund fared the worst for the two periods, with 2.1% and 6.4% respectively.
SEARCHES & HIRINGS
Pensionskasse der Schweizerischen Elektrizitätswerke, Zurich, plans to award a 100 million Swiss franc global private equity mandate late this year or early next year, said Franz Winkler, head of capital markets for the SF5.1 billion (U.S.$3.4 billion) fund.
Officials also expect to name in December a manager for a SF50 million emerging markets equity mandate and hire a firm to run a SF30 million European small-cap portfolio.
Also, three U.S. small-cap equity managers have been awarded an additional SF15 million, following the termination of an unnamed firm: SBC Brinson, Prudential Insurance and Schroders. Each now runs between SF55 million and SF66 million.
Another SF20 million has been allocated to a SF30 million Eastern European emerging markets portfolio run by Fleming Investment. Assets will come from global equity pooled funds that are being dropped, and cash flow.
Pension Portfolio Consulting, Zurich, is the fund's consultant.
Washtenaw County Retirement System, Ann Arbor, Mich., is searching for a small-cap growth equity manager for its $168 million fund. Funding will come from the termination earlier this year of Sirach Capital, which ran $25 million in equities, said Monica Lawrence, retirement administrator.
About $5 million to $6 million of Sirach's portfolio will go to the new firm. The rest of the portfolio has been divided between existing large-cap value equity manager Scudder Stevens & Clark and large-cap growth equity manager GLOBALT. A new firm is expected to be chosen around the end of the year. SEI Capital Resources is assisting.
Electric Power Board of Nashville, Tenn., will be sending out RFPs before the end of the month for a vendor for its 457 plan.
Aetna now handles the entire $16 million plan, offering annuities, mutual funds and guaranteed interest accounts to participants.
Donald Kohansky, senior vice president and CFO, said the board will include Aetna in its search, but is looking to get a better deal and is not interested in offering annuities to participants. The in-house search is expected to be finished in mid-December.
Milwaukee County Employees' Retirement System, Milwaukee, hired Capital Guardian to run $20 million in emerging markets equities, said Jac Amerell, director of the $1.4 billion fund. The firm beat out existing non-U.S. equity managers, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo and Rowe Price-Fleming.
The hiring is the fund's first move into emerging markets. Mercer assisted.
Carpenters Pension Fund of Illinois, Geneva, hired Lincoln Capital as a bond index manager. Lincoln will run about $80 million tied to the Lehman Aggregate index. Lincoln will split the $240 million bond portfolio with active bond managers Lazard Freres and IAI. Marco assisted the $806 million fund.
Bollinger Shipyards Inc., New Orleans, hired NYL Benefit Services as record keeper for its $10 billion 401(k) plan. No changes were made to the plan's six investment options. The previous record keeper was Delaware Charter Trust.
