Mass Mutual converting fund
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance will convert its defined benefit plan to a cash balance plan later this year. Company officials would not provide more details about the plan or the conversion. Mass Mutual's defined benefit plan had $620 million as of December 1997, according to the 1999 Money Market Directory.
Cash balance bill mulled
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, plans to introduce legislation that would require companies converting to cash balance from defined benefit plans to continue contributing to employees' accounts, regardless of the pension benefits the workers accrued under the earlier plans.
Angelica promoted
Robert E. Angelica was promoted to chairman and CEO of AT&T Investment Management, which manages AT&T's $35 billion in pension assets. Mr. Angelica, who had served as president and CIO of ATTIMCO since it was founded in 1992, succeeds Larry Prendergast, who is retiring.
DOL suit settled
C.W. Haynes and Co. Inc. and its president, W.E. Sellars, have agreed to pay the company's profit-sharing plan $1.09 million to settle a lawsuit filed June 18 by the Labor Department's pension office.
Under the settlement, the defendants will buy out the plan's 40% ownership in the Folly Fontaine Commerce Center, a real estate partnership, and also pay the fair market value of a loan taken by the partnership from the profit-sharing plan.
Proffer joins Pilgrim Baxter
Pilgrim Baxter & Associates appointed Carol W. Proffer to head and expand its private equity advisory unit. She will work on the project with Jim Smith, who has been overseeing Pilgrim's three-year-old private equity program.
In her new post, Ms. Proffer said, she will build a fund of funds for midsized pension funds: "It will be a hybrid of late-stage ventures, venture-backed public companies and exceptional venture capital partnerships."
Ms. Proffer most recently was a managing director at The Crossroads Group, Dallas, a manager of managers.
At Crossroads, her duties will be taken by Beverly R. Lemond Shawn Terry.
Alaska shifts foreign portfolios
The board of the $26.3 billion Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. modified the mandates for two global equity and two international fixed-income managers.
UBS Brinson, with an $841 million portfolio, and Lazard Freres, $1.56 billion, were given the authority to invest no more than 5% of their equity portfolios in emerging markets. Their new benchmark is the MSCI EMF index.
Fixed-income managers Julius Baer, with $238 million, and Rogge Global, $319 million, will be allowed to invest in emerging markets outside of the Salomon Brothers World Government Bond index. Each manager will be limited to investing no more than 20% of its total portfolio in emerging markets and no more than 5% of its total portfolio in any one country.
Ohio Police buy complex
The Ohio Police & Firemen's Disability and Pension Fund purchased Avalon at Park Center, a 492-unit apartment complex located in Alexandria, Va., said Allen Proctor, executive director of the $9.9 billion fund. Boston Financial assisted. The system has an 8% allocation to real estate.
Manager ratings to change
The Houston Firefighters Relief & Retirement Fund is changing the way it rates managers' performance, said Danny Bowers, CIO at the $1.6 billion fund. It is in the process of adopting tools to help determine if there are problems with particular managers. The system had been measuring performance by comparing a manager with its peer group on a short-term basis, while the new approach will give each manager its own specific benchmark, using a "five-year rolling Alpha comparison" to rate performance.
Columbus Circle goes solo
PIMCO Advisors announced last week it will withdraw as a partner in Columbus Circle Investors, allowing Columbus' management to become the sole owners of the firm. PIMCO will continue to receive quarterly revenue-sharing payments from Columbus, which manages $4.5 billion in U.S. institutional tax-exempt assets, for an undisclosed period of time, as a portion of the unannounced sale price. The transaction is scheduled to be completed June 30.
Omnicom hires
Omnicom Group Inc. hired Brundage, Story and Rose as a domestic core fixed-income manager for the fixed-income option offered in its $650 million profit-sharing plan.
L.A. County taps Huff
Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association board selected W.R. Huff Asset Management to run a $350 million domestic high-yield bond portfolio for the $24.76 billion fund. Separately, the board extended by one year LACERA's contract with Sentinel Realty Partners 1, a commingled real estate fund, so the limited partnership could complete the disposition of the last two remaining properties in its portfolio.
Highcrest takes stake
Highcrest Capital, the private capital arm of Putnam, Lovell, de Guardiola & Thornton, has taken a minority ownership position in Arrowstreet, the new investment management firm created by former PanAgora executives Bruce Clarke and Peter Rathjens.
Kemper shifts
Donald Hall was replaced as lead portfolio manager of the $548 million Kemper Value Fund by Lois Roman, a senior vice president. The change was made to allow Mr. Hall to focus on management of about $2 billion in institutional accounts in the same style, said Pamela Phlen, a Kemper spokeswoman. Ms. Phlen acknowledged the fund's performance was a consideration.
2 join Loomis
Two international equity portfolio managers left Nicholas-Applegate to join Loomis, Sayles in San Francisco. Alex Muromcew and John Tribolet will be vice presidents and portfolio managers for international core and small-cap equities, and European equities, respectively. Replacements for the two have not yet been named.
