HIRINGS
City of El Paso (Texas) Police and Fire Pension Fund hired Northern Trust Quantitative Advisors to manage a $100 million bond index fund. Northern Trust replaces two fixed-income managers. Janel Lopez, fund administrator, declined to name the terminated managers.
William M. Mercer assisted the $415 million pension fund.
West Palm Beach (Fla.) General Employees Retirement System hired AIG Insurance to provide annuities for its pension fund as a result of the termination of the city's $110 million defined benefit plan.
The system dropped balanced manager INVESCO and U.S. equity manager Putnam Investments.
The change was made because of a recently passed ordinance that called for the termination of the city's current defined benefit plan structure and the purchase of annuities, said Alfredo Lay, pension administrator.
Clarks Cos., Newton Upper Falls, Mass., hired SEI as a manager of managers for its defined benefit plan which has in excess of $25 million in assets. SEI replaces Alex Brown, Rittenhouse, Westfield, and Radnor.
Each firm had been meeting its benchmarks, but the company wanted a single point of service for the fund, said James Salzano, senior vice president and CFO.
Clarks also likely will search for a bundled provider for its 401(k) plan in the next year, Mr. Salzano said.
The plan has $12 million in assets, according to Money Market Directory. The company currently uses Sedgewick Nowles as record keeper and offers several different types of funds to employees.
SEI also will be considered in the 401(k) plan search, he added.
