Austin (Texas) Police Retirement Fund will interview four firms to handle a large-cap equity portfolio, replacing terminated manager MacKay-Shields.
The firm, which managed a $40 million portfolio, was terminated because of poor performance and portfolio manager turnover, said Sam Jordan, administrator of the $200 million fund.
MacKay-Shields officials did not return calls seeking comment by press time. The decision is expected to be made at the board's Feb. 11 meeting. Monroe Vos is assisting.Private equity funds raised a record $88.4 billion in 1998, up 25.5% over the $70.4 billion raised in 1997, according to preliminary figures from Venture Economics.
Some 50% of the commitments to the 364 funds in the survey came from pension funds, up from 45% a year earlier. In 1998, 199 venture capital partnerships increased total fund-raising efforts by 69% to $23.6 billion.
Warburg Pincus Equity Partners Fund took in the most last year, raising $5 billion. Buyout fund commitments increased 21.2% to $53.5 billion in 1998.
