Utah Retirement Systems sued Wellington Capital for at least $9 million to recover costs the plan will incur moving its $500 million mandate away from Schneider Capital Management. Utah Retirement also is asking for $1 billion in punitive damages.
Wellington won a judgment against Arnold Schneider, an ex-partner, last month in a Massachusetts district court. The decision requires Schneider Capital to relinquish, by April 17, Utah and two other former Wellington clients that followed Mr. Schneider last year to his new firm.
Kevin A. Howard, Utah Retirement's general counsel, said executives are angry at the Wellington partners because they allegedly didn't tell the system that Mr. Schneider was under a noncompete restriction. Utah also has filed for a temporary restraining order to put the deadline on hold.
Wellington believes any harm caused to Utah Retirement ''rests squarely on the shoulders of Mr. Schneider,'' said Wellington spokeswoman Lisa Finkel.
Chicago Park Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund moved a step closer to adopting a prudent person rule, as a state pension commission approved a bill to be considered by the state house.
If the bill passes, the fund will conduct an asset allocation study and review its investment managers, said Joseph Fratto, executive director of the $606 million fund. Ennis Knupp would assist with the study.
Trustees also voted to move a $113 million large-cap value separate account with Brinson Partners into a similarly managed Brinson commingled fund. The primary difference will be that the commingled fund includes some post-venture capital investments, he said.
The fund also decided to switch to a team approach style for a $61 million Oppenheimer Capital large-cap value separate account from a ''star approach.''
Illinois State Board of Investment, Chicago, is beginning an asset allocation study. The fund hired Hewitt Associates to review its investments, said Scott Richards, portfolio manager-external investments. The board will discuss the study at its May meeting. The current mix is 40% U.S. stocks, 9% global stocks, 9% non-U.S. stocks, 34% U.S. bonds, 4% real estate and 4% alternatives.
The $7 billion fund also committed $30 million the GTCR Fund, a special-situations fund managed by Golder Thoma Cressey Rauner.
The PBGC reached an agreement with Stackpole Corp. in which the company will contribute $12 million to an underfunded pension plan. The additional contribution improves the plan's funding to about 85%.
The PBGC also will hold $25 million worth of interest in the company's Canadian affiliate. Moreover, the Newton, Mass.-based company will pay a penalty of $142,000 for failing to notify the PBGC of cutbacks in its work force on time. The company's pension plan now covers about 25 workers. During the past decade, the company has sold or shut down most of its facilities and laid off 3,700 workers.
Baton Rouge & Parish of East Baton Rouge Retirement System, Louisiana, decided not to hire Western Asset as a core U.S. bond manager for a $120 million portfolio.
The $718 million fund instead chose to retain State Street Global as manager of a $100 million Lehman Aggregate Bond Index bond portfolio and add another $20 million to that mandate. The board voted to call off contract talks with Western Asset, said Jeffrey Yates, retirement administrator for the system.
