SEARCHES & HIRINGS
Belgacom Pension Fund is seeking an international equity manager to run an 8.5 billion Belgian franc ($227 million) portfolio. The Brussels-based fund will finance the portfolio from new contributions.
The deadline for the first phase is March 31. The fund has a total of 82 billion Belgian francs ($2.2 billion).
Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund for Teamsters, Rosemont, Ill., reallocated $850 million to equities from cash, said Mark F. Angerame, director-financial accounting.Morgan Stanley, as named fiduciary, made the reallocation decision for the $18.2 billion fund.
For U.S. equities, the fund hired Institutional Capital for large-cap value stocks, assigning it $200 million. Also, the fund added $250 million to an S&P 500 index portfolio run by Barclays Global, raising it to between $500 million and $600 million. For international, it split $400 million among its existing active MSCI EAFE mandate managers: Scudder Kemper, Putnam, Brinson Partners, Rowe-Price Fleming and Lazard. Amounts of the individual assignments were not available.
The moves raised the fund's U.S. equity allocation by about 2.5% to 35% and international equity by 2.2% to 21%, and brings the cash allocation to 9%.
City of Warwick (R.I.) Retirement System hired State Street Global to manage in excess of 10% of its $170 million fund in a Russell 1000 value index commingled fund, the system's first index portfolio.
The fund also is close to finishing a small-cap equity search. The mandate probably will be about the same size as State Street's, said Peder Schaefer, finance director. Officials are considering both value and growth styles.
Funding for State Street's portfolio will come from existing managers; none will be terminated. Watson Wyatt assisted.
Network Appliance Inc., Mountain View, Calif., hired NYL Benefits Group as bundled provider for its $6 million 401(k) plan, replacing Nationwide Insurance. Lisa Riggs, human resources analyst, said the plan will use a mixture of NYL funds and non-NYL funds for its 12 investment choices.
The plan previously had 15 investment choices through Nationwide. Ms. Riggs declined to specify the names of the funds.
Atlantic Portfolio Analytics & Management, Orlando, Fla.; and Delaware International Advisers, London, selected Northern Trust Global Fund Services as custodian for their respective investment products.
Northern Trust will provide custodial services for two APAM foreign funds with $800 million in total assets, the Protected Asset Management Portfolio I and II, and an affiliated Bermuda-based reinsurer, AFC Re Ltd., according to a Northern Trust spokeswoman.
Northern Trust, in partnership with Arthur Andersen, will provide custody services to a new Delaware International Advisors' limited partnership. The joint venture will provide Delaware with partnership tax and reporting in additional to custodial services.
