Auto Workers Local 365
LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. -- The $170 million United Auto Workers Local No. 365 pension fund hired Seix Investment Advisors and Amalgamated Bank to manage $26 million each in domestic fixed income, said John Amaya, administrator.
Funding came from terminating INVESCO.
Segal Advisors assisted.
Dallas Police & Fire
DALLAS -- The $1.5 billion Dallas Police & Fire Pension System hired Hancock Agricultural Investment Group to manage $25 million in discretionary assets that will be invested in existing and developing properties, said Larry D. Eddington, chairman.
Investments will include crops of wine grapes, apples and almonds, according to James W. McBride, senior vice president at Hancock.
Funding will come from cash.
Institutional Property Consultants assisted.
First Federal Savings
BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. -- First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Bucks County outsourced the investment management and administration of its $2 million defined benefit plan to Pentegra Group, which specializes in managing the defined benefit plans of community banks using a pooled asset vehicle.
First Federal had previously managed the assets internally.
Hoechst Marion Roussel
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The $900 million Hoechst Marion Roussel defined benefit plan hired BARRA RogersCasey as full retainer consultant, said John Hardt, manager of treasury.
The new consultant will immediately begin an evaluation of the plan and its recent asset allocation study to see if changes are needed, Mr. Hardt said.
Land O'Lakes
ARDEN HILLS, Minn. -- The $285 million 401(k) plan at Land O'Lakes hired T. Rowe Price to replace Denver Investment Advisors as manager of a midcap growth option, said Terrence P. Koves, director of compensation and benefits.
The change is effective Dec. 1.
Denver Investment was terminated for performance reasons, Mr. Koves said. Todger Anderson, president of Denver Investment, did not return phone calls by press time.
Hewitt assisted.
Louisiana State Employees
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The $5.7 billion Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System hired Invista Capital as its first international small-cap value equity manager, said Bob Borden, chief investment officer.
Invista will manage 1%of the fund. Funding will come from reducing the portfolio of international small-cap growth manager Schroders, which currently runs $114 million.
New England Pension Consultants assisted.
Melrose Contributory
MELROSE, Mass. -- The $55 million Melrose Contributory Retirement System hired Segal Advisors as its first investment consultant, said Joe Tassone, city auditor.
Segal will conduct an asset allocation study.
Merck & Co.
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. -- The $2 billion Merck & Co. pension fund hired LSV Asset Management as a small-cap value manager, said Nicholas Procyk, director of pension investments.
Mr. Procyk would not reveal the size or funding source for the new allocation.
The search was done in-house.
Mississippi PERS
JACKSON, Miss. -- The $13.8 billion Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System hired Callan Associates as full retainer consultant, said Lorrie Tingle, director of investments.
Callan replaces BARRA RogersCasey.
New York City
NEW YORK -- The $34.5 billion New York City Retirement System has reorganized its emerging manager program, hiring two new managers, terminating three and renewing contracts with five others, said Richard Halverson, deputy controller of pensions.
About $575 million is affected by the restructuring.
Newly hired are FIS Funds Management, $25 million for a U.S. equity manager-of-managers program; and MDL Capital, $40 million in government bonds.
Terminated were Amerindo, which ran $18 million in domestic equities; NCM, $50 million in fixed income; and Executive Investment Advisors, $76 million in fixed income. Amerindo and NCM were dropped because their assets under management grew too large for the program; Executive Investment's total assets shrank too much to be eligible.
The fund also renewed its contract with Progress Investment Management, allocating $190 million to U.S. equity and $50 million to U.S. fixed income -- the same as previously, Mr. Halverson said.
Contracts also were renewed with Taplin, Canida & Habacht, which will manage $100 million in fixed income, up from $78 million; Zevenbergen Capital, $90 million, large-cap stocks, up from $75 million; New Amsterdam Partners, $40 million, midcap stocks, up from $30 million when it was a submanager for Progress; and Sloate, Weisman & Murray, $40 million, value equities, up from $35 million, when it was a submanager for Progress.
Ohio Teachers Retirement
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The $44 billion State Teachers' Retirement System of Ohio hired Forest Investment Associates to manage $125 million in southern timber assets and Forest Systems to run $210 million in northwestern timber assets, said Herbert Dyer, executive director.
Hancock Timber was the previous manager. Changes in the forest product industry and the capital markets led the pension fund in September to issue eight RFPs, including one to Hancock.
"We are of course disappointed by the decision. We will work closely with the client to assure a smooth transition and we wish them well," said a Hancock spokesman.
San Francisco City & State
SAN FRANCISCO -- The $9.2 billion San Francisco City & County Employees' Retirement System committed $20 million to Worldview Technology Partners II, subject to approval of final terms.
The fund will make broad investments in private, U.S.-based software, communications and semiconductor companies. Worldview general partners said they will add value by actively assisting entrepreneurs in extending their business strategies to Asia.
The pension fund has committed 5%to alternative investments and has a target of 12%
Cambridge Associates assisted.
Santa Clara County Transit
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The $400 million Santa Clara County Transit District hired its first five managers as a result of an asset allocation study and a shift from in-house to external management, said Manny Bagnas, investment manager for the fund.
Boston Partners will manage $25 million in large-cap value; Brandywine Asset Management, $15 million in small-cap value; State Street Global Advisors, $8 million in a large-cap index; and Dodge & Cox and Payden & Rygel, $100 million and $200 million in fixed income, respectively.
SEI Investments
WAYNE, Pa. -- SEI Investments hired Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management to run $75 million in global emerging markets equities, according to Christopher Vella, senior investment analyst.
Teamsters, Central States
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- The $17 billion Teamsters, Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund named Bankers Trust as its second named fiduciary, said Mark F. Angerame, director-financial accounting.
The fund hired a second fiduciary to further diversify assets and to create competition for the other fiduciary, Mr. Angerame said.
Bankers Trust will oversee 15%of total assets and will have sole authority to set investment policy, allocate assets, hire and fire money managers and act as custodian. The firm joins Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which had been the fund's sole fiduciary.
Other finalists were State Street Bank and J.P. Morgan.
Tulare County
VISALIA, Calif. -- The $500 million Tulare County Employees' Retirement Association hired Boston Partners to manage an $88 million large-cap value portfolio, said David Kehler, administrator for the fund.
Palley-Needelman Asset Management was terminated for performance reasons.
"It's the client's preference if they want to hire a more aggressive value manager," said Roger B. Palley, president of Palley-Needelman.
R.V. Kuhns assisted.
Valdez City Schools
VALDEZ, Alaska -- The Valdez City Schools Deferred Compensation Program hired Fidelity Investments Public Sector Services as bundled service provider for its $9 million deferred compensation plan, said John A Tongen, business manager.
Previously all assets were in fixed income, 98%of which was collateralized mortgage obligation bonds, he said.
Fidelity will provide investment management, record keeping, administration and education. The plan will include 17 Fidelity options.
