Cambridge Retirement
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The $325 million Cambridge Retirement System picked McKay-Shields as its first high-yield bond manager to run a $13 million portfolio, said Larry Marino, the Segal Advisors consultant who assisted in the search. Money for the new manager is coming from cash.
State of Connecticut
HARTFORD, Conn. -- The State of Connecticut Trust Funds committed a total of $215 million to real estate and private equity partnerships, said a spokesman for State Treasurer Paul J. Silvester. The $18 billion pension fund committed $100 million to AEW Real Estate Partners III and $75 million to Apollo Real Estate Partners III. Lexington Capital Partners II, which will buy existing interests in buyout partnerships, received a $40 million commitment.
Elgin Police & Fire
ELGIN, Ill. -- Elgin Police & Fire Pension System selected three equity index funds and next might look for active fixed-income managers, said Craig Larsen, a trustee for the $36 million fund. Elgin officials expect by year end to invest $4 million to $5 million in First Chicago NBD's Pegasus S&P 500 index fund, $3 million in Vanguard's small-cap stock index fund, and about $1 million in Dreyfus' midcap equity index fund, Mr. Larsen said.
Liberty All-Star
BOSTON -- The Liberty All-Star Equity Fund hired Boston Partners Asset Management as one of the fund's five portfolio managers, effective May 11. Boston Partners, a value-style portfolio manager replaced Palley-Needelman. Roger Palley, chief investment officer of Palley-Needelman, said he understood the trustees of the mutual fund, run by Liberty Asset Management Co., wanted to hire a company with a more aggressive style than his company was using in managing its portion of the fund.
Mobil Oil Corp.
FAIRFAX, Va. -- Mobil Oil Corp. selected Pacific Corporate Group as the alternative investment adviser for its $7.5 billion pension fund, confirmed a spokeswoman for the pension fund. The spokeswoman could not confirm if Mobil had any investments in alternative assets.
New York State Common
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The $105 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund committed a total of $250 million to two private equity partnerships, said State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, the sole trustee. The fund committed $200 million to Apollo Investment Fund IV, which focuses on buildup strategies and turnarounds; and $50 million to Olympus Growth Fund III, which will invest in management buyouts and buildups. The latest commitment to Olympus is New York Common's second. The pension fund invested $40 million in a previous fund, Mr. McCall said. The fund invested an additional $54 million from cash flow in the Barclays Global Investors Russell 2000 Alpha Tilts Fund. The Common Fund previously invested $130 million in the fund.
New York State Teachers
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The $75.8 billion New York State Teachers' Retirement System allocated a total of $500 million to emerging markets equities and $200 million to real estate investment trusts, a spokeswoman for the system said. Hired to manage emerging markets equity mandates were Capital International, Schroder Capital and Citibank Global. Capital International and Schroder each will manage $200 million; Citibank will manage $100 million. Hired for REITs were ERE Rosen Real Estate Securities and RREEF Real Estate Securities. All commitments will be funded from cash flow.
Ohio Workers' Compensation
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation hired 28 minority managers, assigning to them a total of $1.325 billion from its $19.5 billion insurance fund, said Robert G. Cowman, chief investment officer. In core fixed income, LM Capital was assigned $55 million; Greystone Capital, $30 million; and Utendahl Capital, $65 million. In intermediate bonds, Holland Capital received $40 million; Hughes Capital, $45 million; and Taplin Canida & Habacht, $100 million. In active-duration bonds, Advent Capital was assigned $10 million; and MDL Capital, $55 million. In mortgage securities, Pugh Capital received $15 million and Smith Graham, $85 million.
For large-cap growth stocks, Alpha Capital was allocated $10 million; Bond Procope, $80 million; Delancy Capital, $15 million; NCM Capital, $65 million; Swarthmore Group, $65 million; and Woodford Gayed, $85 million. In large-cap value equities, CIC Asset received $30 million; Edgar Lomax, $75 million; Lakefront Capital, $10 million; Sturdivant, $75 million; and Union Heritage Capital, $10 million.
In midcap growth equities, Tiffany Capital received $20 million. In midcap value equities, Diaz-Verson Capital was assigned $25 million; Kenwood Group, $40 million; Valenzuela Capital, $100 million; and WILMOCO Capital, $10 million.
In small-cap growth, Chapman Capital was assigned $10 million. In small-cap value, Ariel Capital received $100 million.
Gray & Co., Fiduciary Investment Solutions and Callan assisted in the search. The hirings are part of a move to external management by the fund.
Oregon Public Employes
SALEM, Ore. -- The Oregon Public Employes' Retirement Fund committed $150 million to the CVC European Equity Partners II LP, a buyout fund focused on the European market, said Michael Parker, spokesman for the $29 billion fund. The CVC fund is managed by CVC Capital Partners Europe Ltd.
Pennsylvania State Employes'
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania State Employes' Retirement System will allocate a total of $245 million to real estate and private equity, officials reported. For real estate, the $21 billion system will allocate up to $75 million to Westbrook Fund III and up to $50 million each to Allegis Multifamily Trust and Apollo Real Estate Fund III.
In private equity, the $21 billion system will invest up to $50 million to GTCR Golder Rauner Fund VI and up to $20 million to Prudential Asia Private Equity Fund II. Townsend Group assisted with the real estate allocations and Cambridge Associates with private equity. All allocations will be funded from cash and are subject to completion of contract negotiations.
Shelby County Retirement
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Shelby County Retirement System is rebalancing its $686 million in assets because of the runup in the stock market, said David Pontius, manager of pension investments. The system is trimming its exposure to stocks by five percentage points, to about 60% with the rest in bonds. The system hired Gintel Asset to manage a $10 million intermediate U.S. bond portfolio and Thomson, Horstman & Bryant to run $10 million in micro-cap U.S. equities, a new asset class. It also gave an additional $12 million to bond manager Goldman Sachs, boosting its portfolio to $50 million, and another $5 million to Sector Asset, a large-cap U.S. stock manager. Sector now manages $14 million.
Funding came from terminating Stephens Capital, a large-cap U.S. equities manager, which invested $18 million, and reducing the allocation to NewSouth Capital, a midcap U.S. stock manager, by $35 million. Brett J. Holiman, a portfolio manager at Stephens, could not be reached for a comment. The remaining $16 million resulting from the rebalancing will go to an internally managed bond portfolio, Mr. Pontius said.
University of Iowa
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- University of Iowa Foundation will invest about $20 million of its $375 million long-term pool in the Artisan Small Cap Growth equity mutual fund, said Larry Bruse, treasurer. The foundation hired Artisan to diversify its small-cap manager exposure, he said. Warburg Pincus is the foundation's existing small-cap manager, he said. No terminations will result from the hiring, Mr. Bruse said.
University of Utah
SALT LAKE CITY -- The University of Utah added a second manager to its $184 million main endowment fund, said David Heaps, investment manager. The endowment, which has been managed solely by the Common Fund, will add First Security Investment Management, which handles $7 million of U.S. equities for one of the university's other endowments.
The university is raising First Security's allocation to $17 million and will begin to include those assets as part of the main endowment, Mr. Heaps said. In addition, the fund's investment committee approved a new overall asset allocation. The new asset mix will be: 40% in multistrategy equities, down from 50%; 25% in multistrategy bonds, down from 40%; 15% in international equities, up from 10%; and new allocations of 5% to emerging stock markets and 15% to small-cap growth stocks.
Visa International
FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- Visa International hired Hewitt Associates to assist it in assessing whether it needs to change or add more options to its 401(k) plan, said Lisa Ma, pension administrator.
The $300 million fund, which did not use a consultant before, offers its 3,500 participants six investment choices.