State Universities Retirement System of Illinois, Champaign, plans to search for an international equity manager, assigning it $125 million to $150 million, said John R. Krimmel, associate investment officer.
The $8.2 billion system will look for a manager to focus on bottom-up selection, small-cap and midcap equities and invest in both EAFE and emerging markets .
Staff will consult with Ennis Knupp to recommend to trustees whether to search from a list of candidates selected by the consultant or do a broader search. The system may divide the assignment into separate EAFE and emerging markets mandates with a single manager.
The staff will present the recommendation in March.
Funding likely will come from domestic or international index funds, managed by Barclays, which would retain $3.75 billion.
State Street Bank agreed to acquire Bank of Scotland's trustee business for unit trusts. Terms were not disclosed.
Subject to regulatory approval, the business, involving £13 billion (U.S.$21.5 billion) in unit trust assets, will be transferred to State Street's Edinburgh operations.
Also, State Street Global Advisors today signed an alliance with Mediolanum SpA, an Italian financial services group, to pursue Italy's corporate and industrywide pension fund management business.
The firms will offer asset management and reporting, consulting and education and communication for plan participants to Italian plan sponsors.
The two firms will immediately bid for the pension fund mandate of FondChim, an Italian chemical group. A 50/50 joint venture called Mediolanum State Street will eventually be launched.
