HIRINGS
Deutsche Shell AG, Hamburg, Germany, hired Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank subsidiaries to manage its newly created 2 billion deutsche mark ($1.1 billion) pension fund, said Jens-Peter Stoehr, treasurer. In addition, Chase Manhattan Bank, London, has been selected as global custodian.
Each manager will run half of the assets, which were previously invested in cash for the book-reserve pension fund.
Both mandates will be split 60% in European assets and 40% in non-European assets, and divided equally between stocks and bonds. Deutsche Bank's DEGEF unit will run a purely active portfolio; the non-European portion of Dresdner Investment Management's portfolio will be invested passively.
Shell pension officials will advise on the management of the portfolios.
Kimball International, Jasper, Ind., hired Fox Asset Management as a large-cap value manager and Bank of New York as master trustee and custodian for its $325 million defined contribution plan.
Fox replaces Palley-Needelman, which was terminated due to personnel departures. Kenneth Sendelweck, vice president and assistant treasurer at Kimball, would not give the size of the portfolio. Large-cap stocks, which account for 20% of the plan, are split between two firms. Officials at Palley-Needelman could not be reached by press time.
BONY replaces McDonald & Co. Officials made the change to benefit from the record keeping and administrative software BONY uses, Mr. Sendelweck said.
McDonald & Co., which will remain consultant to the fund, assisted the manager search.
Merced County Employees' Retirement System, Merced, Calif., hired Dorn, Helliesen & Cottle as its first consultant to do performance evaluation and an asset allocation study. Officials of the $275 million fund have yet to establish a timetable for the study. The current mix: 49% U.S. bonds; 45% U.S. stocks; 1% real estate; and 5% cash.
Oakland (Calif.) Police & Fire Re tirement System hired five equity managers: Rhumbline for $40 million in a Russell 1000 index portfolio; Scudder Stevens & Clark, $31 million in international core equity; Tiffany Capital, $10 million in U.S. midcap stocks; Invista, $28 million international core plus; and Reams , $97.5 million core-plus bonds.
Funding will come from the $794 million fund's pension obligation bond offering.
Watson Wyatt assisted.
New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, allocated $75 million to the Olympus Real Estate Fund II, an opportunistic real estate partnership sponsored by Olympus Realty Partners, confirmed New York State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, the sole trustee of the $95 billion pension fund.
The allocation was funded from cash.
