SEARCHES & HIRINGS
State of Wisconsin Investment Board, Madison, is searching for quantitative large-cap equity and S&P 500 enhanced index fund managers in its first move to external active U.S. equity management.
The $54 billion board expects to assign portfolios of $300 million to $500 million to each. The RFP deadline is Feb. 16. SWIB is looking for quant-based managers using optimized portfolios or other disciplined techniques. Enhanced index managers that use derivatives to achieve their returns won't be included. A performance-fee arrangement might be used.
Michael McCowin, CIO for SWIB, said the hiring of external managers does not signal a broad move away from the fund's largely internal management focus.
Additional information is available at www.assetstrategy.com, the Web site of Asset Strategy Consulting, which is assisting.
Pension Fund CIBA Specialty Chemical, Basel, Switzerland, hired Complementa Investment-Controlling AG to conduct an asset allocation study, said Wilhelm Inderbitzin, head of the pension fund.
The company was spun out of Novartis AG last year. Its 1.5 billion-plus Swiss franc ($1 billion) fund is managed by the Novartis treasury, but officials now plan to pursue their own strategy.
The study will be done over the next two to three months.
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, N.J., added the Bankers Trust BT Institutional Equity Fund to its management and salaried 401(k) plans, with combined assets of $13 billion.
The addition of the BT fund increases the number of investment choices to 13 at Lucent.
