Ameriquest Mortgage Co.
ORANGE, Calif. -- Ameriquest Mortgage Co. hired Putnam Investments to provide bundled services for its $20 million 401(k) retirement plan, according to Lori Grigg, director of compensation and benefits.
Beginning May 1, the plan will have eight funds, up from the five investment options offered under the old version of the plan, which was administered by CIGNA.
The new options are: Putnam Income fund; Putnam Asset Allocation Balanced; Investors; Voyager; International Growth; Equity; American Government Income; and Money Market.
Plan participants also will be able to make changes to their accounts at any time. Previously, participants could make transfers only quarterly, Ms. Grigg said. Plan eligibility also has been moved up to 90 days from one year, she added.
A.H. Belo
DALLAS -- A.H. Belo Corp. hired five managers after recently merging its $150 million defined benefit plan with the $150 million defined benefit plan of The Providence Journal Co., which it acquired in 1997, said Brenda Maddox, vice president and treasurer for Belo.
Hired were Chicago Equity Partners and TradeStreet, both for core small-cap U.S. equity; Bank of America and State Street Global Advisors, midcap U.S. equity; and J.P. Morgan, large-cap U.S. equity. Ms. Maddox declined to give portfolio sizes.
Funding for the new managers will come partly from rebalancing and partly from terminated mandates, she said.
Callan Associates assisted.
Bricklayers & Trowel Trades
WASHINGTON -- The Bricklayers & Trowel Trades International Pension Fund committed up to $20 million to a new commingled fund created by Chadwick, Saylor; Landon Butler; and Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel, said Dave Stupar, executive director for the $1.1 billion fund.
Funding will come from rebalancing, he said.
Colorado Fire & Police
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Colorado Fire & Police Association chose PIMCO and Western Asset Management to actively manage $100 million each in domestic bonds, said Scott Laughlin, investment analyst for the $2.2 billion fund. The board also allocated $50 million to current active domestic bond manager Bradford & Marzec, which already managed $50 million in core bonds, he added. Funding came from a Putnam account that was terminated in January.
Earlham College
RICHMOND, Ind. -- Earlham College hired Westfield Capital as an additional small-cap growth U.S. equity manager to further diversify its $294 million endowment, said Richard Smith, vice president of financial affairs.
Westfield will receive $20 million; funding will come from rebalancing.
Wellesley Group assisted.
Fairfax County
FAIRFAX, Va. -- The Fairfax County Deferred Compensation Plan, with about $180 million in assets, has increased participant investment options as a result of adding VALIC as a third investment provider; the fund also added new investment classes, said Karen Diviney, supervisor of employee benefits.
Starting April 1, the plan will increase its investment options to 48 from 17. The plan added domestic small-cap equity, domestic midcap equity and lifestyle funds from each of its three investment providers -- ICMA, T. Rowe Price and VALIC. It also has a self-directed brokerage option through ICMA.
GATX Corp.
CHICAGO -- GATX Corp. hired Fidelity to manage $21 million in a risk controlled, small-cap equity commingled fund for its $325 million defined benefit plan.
The mandate is an enhanced index that maintains a sector-neutral weighting and uses stock selection to add value, said Mike Sullivan, manager of retirement plan investments at GATX. Previously, the money was handled in a Wilshire 4500 index portfolio by a manager Mr. Sullivan declined to name. The manager was terminated in favor of using an active equity approach.
Goshen Rubber Co.
GOSHEN, Ind. -- Goshen Rubber Co. hired Diversified Investment Advisors to provide plan administration, investment management and record-keeping services for its $23 million defined contribution plan, according to Jeffrey Swartzentruber, corporate treasurer.
When Diversified assumes management of the plan July 1 from incumbent Key Corp., the 401(k) plan's options will increase to 15 from eight, he said; none of the current options will be used.
New fund options will include: money market; high-quality bonds; intermediate government bonds; government/corporate bonds; high-yield bonds; stock index; value equity; growth equity; special equity; and international equity.
The plan also will include five strategic allocation funds that will provide different mixes of the 10 individual funds, depending on the employee's time horizon to retirement and risk tolerance, Mr. Swartzentruber said.
ILA Welfare
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The ILA Welfare & Pension Administration hired Duff & Phelps to replace Fox Asset Management as an $11 million balanced account manager for its $75 million defined benefit plan, said James Henderson, administrator.
Mr. Henderson said the termination resulted from staff turnover at Fox. Fox officials did not return phone calls by press time. Merrill Lynch assisted.
Los Angeles County Employees
LOS ANGELES -- The $25 billion Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association board granted an additional allocation of $33 million to RREEF and approved a commitment of $20 million to the INVESCO Venture Partnership Fund II, subject to final review.
The board also terminated Phillips & Drew as a European equity manager because of underperformance. The $321.1 million was transferred to the EAFE-Europe index fund managed by Bankers Trust. As a matter of policy, Phillips & Drew declines to comment, said Edward Ho, director.
Louisiana District Attorneys
NEW ORLEANS -- The Louisiana District Attorneys' Retirement Association hired Cohen, Klingenstein & Marks to run $15 million as an additional large-cap growth U.S. equity manager and allocated an additional $15 million to the Wilshire Target Large Growth Fund, said John Vann, consultant to the $130 million fund.
Both changes were the result of a recent asset allocation study.
Funding for both allocations will come from cash and termination of a $20 million midcap value U.S. equity portfolio managed by NWQ Investment Management. The termination was the result of the allocation study.
New York State Common
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The New York State Common Retirement Fund committed $190 million to Apax Europe IV, a $1.8 billion buyout fund, said H. Carl McCall, sole trustee of the $109 billion system.
Separately, after studying responses to an RFP, the pension fund rehired Ark Asset Management as its fixed-income adviser.
Ohio State Highway Patrol
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio State Highway Patrol Retirement System hired State Street Global Advisors as its first S&P 500 and Russell growth 2000 index manager to run $25 million and $50 million, respectively, Mr. Curtis said. The hirings resulted from an allocation study.
Funding for the $25 million allocation will come from cash; the $50 million mandate will come from terminating George D. Bjurman & Associates as a small-cap growth U.S. equity manager.
DeMarche Associates assisted.
Ouchita Baptist University
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. -- Ouachita Baptist University hired Goldman, Sachs as a domestic growth equity manager and Rorer as a domestic value manager to run $9 million each, to diversify the $35 million endowment fund, said Richard Stipe, vice president of administration.
Both allocations will come from reducing U.S. equity investments, he said.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter assisted.
City of Overland Park
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- The City of Overland Park hired three managers for its $20 million pension fund, said Michael Russo, pension benefits coordinator. They are: Metropolitan West Asset Management, running $8 million in domestic fixed income; Harris Investment, $7 million, core large-cap U.S. equity; and Fiduciary Management, $2.5 million, core small-cap U.S. equity.
Funding will come from two terminated balanced account portfolios managed by Mitchell Capital Management and Nelson, Benson & Zellmer.
Mr. Russo said the terminations were not performance-related.
Asset Consulting Group assisted.
Polytechnic University
BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Polytechnic University hired its first two domestic fixed-income managers for diversification, said Rosemarie Barnickel, controller for the $150 million endowment. PIMCO and Miller Anderson & Sherrerd each will run $55 million, funded from cash.
Hamilton & Co. assisted.
Purdue University
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue University, Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue Alumni Foundation hired Fund Evaluation Group to provide investment consulting services, said Scott Harsh, Fund Evaluation Group's owner. Foundation assets comprise a little more than $400 million each for Purdue University and the Purdue Research Foundation, and approximately $200 million for the Purdue Alumni Foundation, he said.
The consultant's first assignment is an asset allocation study, which it expects to have finished by the end of June. It also will help the fund "revise its investment policy statement," Mr. Harsh said.
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Schnitzer Steel Industries
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. added the Vanguard 500 index fund to its $45 million 401(k) plan, said Edgar Shanks, vice president of taxation.
The additional index fund increases the plan options to seven from six, Mr. Shanks said. Barclays Global Investors also provides an equity index fund for the plan.
Arnerich Massena assisted.
Sheet Metal Local 20
INDIANAPOLIS -- Sheet Metal Workers, Local 20, with $70 million in pension assets, hired INVESCO to run $20 million in a domestic stock and bond account, as well as Conseco to manage $9 million in domestic midcap equities, said Craig Dobbs, first vice president with Merrill Lynch Consulting Services, the fund's consultant.
Funding comes from a domestic equity portfolio managed by terminated manager Oppenheimer.
Separately, the Gary, Ind., division of Local 20, with $50 million in pension assets, hired McMorgan to manage $20 million in a core equity account, Mr. Dobbs said. Money came from existing managers.
A.O. Smith Corp.
MILWAUKEE -- A.O. Smith Corp. hired Firstar Investment Research & Management to manage a fixed-income index fund for the $180 million 401(k) plan, said Patricia Ackerman, assistant treasurer.
Firstar will manage a Lehman Brothers corporate/government bond index fund.
A.O. Smith will drop a Vanguard short-term fixed-income fund because it is too similar to a stable value fund, which the plan is retaining.
University of South Florida
TAMPA -- The University of South Florida Foundation hired Lord Abbett to manage a high-grade convertible bond portfolio of about $20 million for the $195 million endowment, according to John Scott, chief financial officer.
The money came from Phoenix Duff & Phelps, which resigned the account because it no longer runs high-grade convertible bond funds.
Carmack Group assisted.
Tokyo-Mitsubishi
TOKYO -- Tokyo-Mitsubishi Asset Management, an affiliate of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, reached an agreement with HighMark Capital Management for Highmark to subadvise on a Japanese investment trust portfolio of U.S. equities, according to Clark Gates, HighMark's president.
The investment trust portfolio, which is similar to a U.S. mutual fund, will be managed by a team headed by Richard Earnest, senior vice president and portfolio manager, Mr. Gates said. HighMark also will subadvise U.S. equity allocations for Japanese retail clients, he added.
HighMark also will subadvise a Luxembourg fund for U.S. equities for Tokyo-Mitsubishi Asset Management; the deal is expected to be finalized in May, Mr. Gates said.
West Virginia Investment
CHARLESTON, W. Va. -- The West Virginia Investment Management Board, with $4.9 billion in pension and workers compensation assets, overhauled its $3.7 billion fixed-income portfolio.
The fund hired Hoisington Investment Management to run $300 million in an interest rate anticipation strategy, and Barclays Global Investors to run $1.7 billion in passive, corporate bonds and mortgage-backed portfolio. The fund also retained Western Asset to run a $1.7 billion core bond portfolio.
The fund terminated Lincoln Capital Management, which had been its second core bond manager. "We just didn't see any reason to have two core fixed-income managers because these amounts will fall as we move into equities," said H. Craig Slaughter, executive director.
