SEARCHES & HIRINGS
Police and Firemen's Disability & Pension Fund of Ohio, Columbus, will issue RFPs for a $500 million large-cap growth mandate, a $500 million large-cap value mandate and a $1 billion S&P 500 index portfolio. The $7.2 billion fund also will issue an RFI for an EAFE index manager. A timetable for the search has yet to be established. The searches are part of a restructuring of the equity portfolio. Wilshire is assisting.
The fund terminated its existing large-cap stock managers: Atalanta/Sosnoff and Bond Procope, both growth managers; value managers Value Line and Lakefront; and value-oriented core manager Oppenheimer. They managed a total of $1.35 billion. The managers were let go for a variety of reasons, including poor performance, said Allen Proctor, executive director.
Small-cap growth manager Invesco was placed on probation after a reorganization at the firm. Mr. Proctor said there have been no problems with performance.
Nate Carter, president and CIO of Lakefront, said the firm's large-cap performance will stand on its own. Alan Bond, CIO of Bond Procope, said his firm ranked in the second quartile for the past two years. Officials at the other money firms could not be reached by press time.
State Universities Retirement System of Illinois, Champaign, approved a search for an international equity small-cap to midcap manager to run $150 million, said John Krimmel, associate investment officer.
The fund wants managers with bottom-up styles and emerging markets capabilities. Ennis Knupp is assisting. Funding will come from a U.S. equities index fund run by Barclays Global. Mr. Krimmel said the fund wants to finish the search early in the second quarter.
The system also is considering changing a roughly $175 million international equity portfolio managed by Brinson Partners to a fully active mandate from a split between active and passive, he said.
New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, committed a total of $483 million to four private equity partnerships, said H. Carl McCall, sole trustee.
The $96 billion system committed $125 million to JLL Fund III, a partnership sponsored by Joseph, Littlejohn & Levy; $250 million to the Thomas H. Lee Fund IV; $85 million to FS Equity IV, sponsored by Freeman Spogli; and $23 million to the Fairview Capital II L.P., sponsored by Fairview Capital. The commitments will be funded from cash.
West Virginia Investment Management Board, Charleston, with $4.5 billion in pension and workers compensation fund assets, picked its first equity managers, which will invest $900 million by the end of the year.
Starting Feb. 1, the fund will give State Street Global $450 million for an S&P 500 index portfolio and $225 million for an EAFE index portfolio. The remaining $225 million will go to a U.S. small-cap value index fund with Dimensional Fund Advisors, said H. Craig Slaughter, executive director. Summit Strategies assisted.
By May, the fund also will have completed an asset allocation study.
New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association, Santa Fe, hired State Street Bank as a securities lending agent to replace SBC Warburg, said Robert Gish, director of investments. The fund's entire $5.8 billion in assets is lendable. Wilshire assisted.
Key Tronic Corp., Spokane, Wash., hired American Century Investments as bundled provider for its $14 million 401(k) plan. American Century replaces Barclays as record keeper. Key Tronic will use nine American Century investment funds, the Barclays S&P 500 Index Fund and will offer a self-directed brokerage option from Charles Schwab.
