Pension case in high court
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Nov. 10 on whether the Bay Area Laundry Pension Trust Fund waited too long to collect withdrawal liability from Ferbar Corp.
Two lower courts had ruled the pension fund's request for payment was filed more than three years after it learned of Ferbar's withdrawal from the pension fund, and thus the statute of limitations had expired.
The pension fund argues that ERISA sets the statute of limitations to collect withdrawal liability at six years from the date of complete withdrawal from the fund.
PIMCO buys Oppenheimer
PIMCO Advisors said it will buy the remaining two-thirds of Oppenheimer Capital that it doesn't already own for about $817 million in partnership units.
Chrysler's Flynn retiring
Russ Flynn, director-pension investments at Chrysler, will retire effective Nov. 30.
He will be replaced by Mark Schmid, manager of manufacturing group accounting.
Mr. Schmid will oversee the $17 billion pension plan.
Stake in Cramer bought
Wilmington Trust is acquiring a 24%interest in Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn, a small-cap and midcap manager with $3.6 billion in assets.
Terms were not disclosed; the transaction is scheduled to be completed early next year.
KLM hires custodian
The 12.5 guilders ($6.5 billion) KLM Pension Funds hired Northern Trust as global custodian, replacing the Dutch Central Bank, which is exiting the custody business.
Ziff-Davis bundles
The $120 million Ziff-Davis 401(k) plan hired Scudder Defined Contribution Services as bundled provider.
Scudder will provide record keeping, administration and six investments options: *Scudder Stable Value; Scudder Growth & Income; Scudder International; and three lifecycle funds.
Three outside funds also will be added to the investment options: Dodge & Cox Income; Franklin Small Cap Growth; and the Delafield Portfolio.
Kwasha Lipton had been record keeper.
RogersCasey had provided six funds of funds.
NYC plan picks 2
The $2.5 billion New York City Deferred Compensation Plan hired PIMCO and Brundage Story and Rose as synthetic GIC managers. Each will be awarded $50 million by the end of 1998.
The contracts will be "wrapped" by Diversified Financial Products. Funding came from cash reserves. Mercer assisted.
Ibbotson loses consultants
Two consultants are leaving Ibbotson Associates in separate moves.
Scott Lummer, managing director in the consulting services group, will leave by year end to form his own investment consulting practice. Mr. Lummer said he has signed on one client.
Meanwhile, Mark W. Riepe was hired as vice president and head of the Schwab Mutual Fund Research Group, a new position. He will lead a team of analysts that will develop analytical tools for use by individual investors.
Mr. Riepe was most recently a vice president in charge of its mutual fund analysis group.
Equity medians top index
The median portfolio in all categories of PIPER managed domestic equity outperformed the S&P 500, which returned 7.5%in the third quarter.
The median small-cap growth portfolio returned 17.4% the median large-cap value portfolio, with 9.6% had the lowest return for the period, according to the PIPER Managed Account Flash Report.
For the year ended Sept. 30, small-cap value led, with 46.2% the S&P returned 40.5%and the Russell 2000 small-cap index, 33.2%Midcap growth was at the bottom, with 25.7%
For median managed bond portfolios, long-duration bonds led with 5.1%for the quarter, and 13.6%for the year, compared to the Salomon Broad Bond Index with 3.4%and 9.7% respectively.
The median limited-duration bond portfolio was the worst performer, returning 2%for the quarter and 7.2%for the year.
The median international equity portfolio easily outperformed the MSCI EAFE index in the third quarter and the year ended Sept. 30. The median international equity account returned 1.6%for the quarter and 19.6%for the year, compared to -0.6%and 12.5% respectively, for the index.
Median manager tops EAFE
The median manager in the non-U.S. equity universe of InterSec Research bested the MSCI EAFE index by almost two percentage points in the third quarter. While EAFE posted a -0.7%return, InterSec's median manager returned 1.4%
According to InterSec, managers typically outperformed by having underweighted positions in the weak Japanese and Malaysian markets.
In Europe, the median manager posted an 8.3%gain, which tied the MSCI index for Europe.
Niagara University hires
Niagara University hired Putnam Institutional to run a $7 million core growth equity portfolio for its endowment fund. Wellesley Group assisted. Fund officials would not release the size of the fund or other details.
New link for investors
Investment Technology Group formed an alliance with Transaction Network Services to build a computer network that will provide vendors and broker-dealers in the financial services industry with electronic links to 100 of the nation's largest money managers.
2 manager deals pending
People's Bank will acquire balanced manager Olson Mobeck & Associates, which has about $850 million under management.
The price was not disclosed.
Olson will be a wholly owned subsidiary of People's Securities.
Also, First Tennessee National will purchase Martin & Co., a private investment management firm with $925 million in assets.
Martin will take over portfolios now managed by First Tennessee.
TCW appoints exec
Sherrie E. Grabot joined TCW Group as senior vice president of its defined contribution group. Her appointment follows Labor Department approval for TCW to provide investment advice to plan participants for a fee.
Ms. Grabot had been vice president and West Coast regional client manager for T. Rowe Price; Dave Orlando replaces her.
2 funds close
HEV III, a private equity fund sponsored by Parcom Ventures and Hambros, closed with about $441 million. Pension fund investors include New Hampshire Retirement System, which committed $20 million, said J.P. Singh, director of finance.
HEV will make private equity investments in European public and private companies.
Also, the Blackstone Real Estate Partners II real estate fund closed with more than $1.1 billion.
Pension fund investors include Chicago Public School Employees, which committed $30 million, and Pennsylvania State Employes' Retirement System, which committed $56 million.
The new fund will continue Blackstone's strategy of investing in corporate partnerships with real estate operating companies and downtown office buildings and luxury hotels.
Mercury's profits rise
Mercury Asset Management's pre-tax profits rose to 88.4 million Pounds ($148.6 million) for the six months ended Sept. 30, up 15.4% from the same period in 1996. Operating profits from continuing activities in the half rose 26.3% to 72.8 million Pounds from the similar period in 1996.
Assets under management reached 104.4 billion Pounds, up 16.4% from 89.7 billion Pounds on March 31. Net new business totaled 3.8 billion Pounds.
