California Public Employees
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Public Employees' Retirement System approved an investment of up to $300 million in Pivotal Partners, its first hedge fund, said Brad Pacheco, a spokesman for the $160 billion system. Pivotal Partners will invest in public and private growth companies, focusing on technology.
At the same time, CalPERS approved investments in what it calls hybrid funds, allowing it to invest in market-neutral, hedge, arbitrage, derivatives-based strategies, concentrated or strategic block funds and crossover funds, in addition to the investments it already has in corporate governance funds.
Central Plastics Co.
SHAWNEE, Okla. -- Central Plastics Co. hired MassMutual Retirement Services as the bundled provider for its $12 million 401(k) plan.
Central Plastics also has expanded the investment options in its 401(k) plan to eight from five, said Melani Clifton, human resources director. The investment options are a guaranteed fund, a core bond fund and an indexed equity fund run by MassMutual; a global equity fund managed by OppenheimerFunds, an affiliate of MassMutual; Equity Income II and Blue Chip Growth managed by Fidelity Investments, an alliance partner; Mid-Cap Growth run by T. Rowe Price, an alliance partner; and a self-directed brokerage account.
Third-party administrator Compensation Planning had provided administration.
Colorado School of Mines
GOLDEN, Colo. -- Colorado School of Mines hired Iridian Asset Management and Southeastern Asset Management to run $10 million each in midcap value U.S. equity, replacing Moody, Aldrich & Sullivan, which ran $20 million, said Linda Landrum, managing director. She declined to discuss why the $120 million endowment made the change.
Neil Sullivan, partner with Moody, Aldrich & Sullivan, declined comment.
Monticello & Associates assisted.
Fairfax County Employees
FAIRFAX, Va. -- The $1.75 billion Fairfax County Employees' Supplemental Retirement System hired Barclays Global Investors to take over two Credit Suisse portfolios, $150 million in large-cap domestic equity and $200 million in active fixed income, as part of its greater shift into passive management, said Laurnz A. Swartz, executive director.
Barclays now runs the money in a passive domestic fixed-income portfolio and a BARRA/S&P value stocks portfolio. The fund had used Barclays previously only as a BAR- RA/S&P growth equities manager.
The system rebalanced its domestic equity allocation to 42.1%of total assets, reducing it by $85 million. It shifted $47 million to domestic fixed income, which has a 36%allocation. It also moved $38 million to international stock managers, with an 11.9% allocation, of which 8.3% is developed international and 3.6% is emerging markets. The remaining 10% is allocated to real estate investment trusts.
Foster Wheeler Corp.
CLINTON, N.J. -- Foster Wheeler Corp. hired MFS Institutional Advisors to manage $20 million in international equity for its $280 million defined benefit plan.
Funding for the company's first international commitment will come from fixed income through an asset allocation shift, said consultant Jeff Van Orden of Milliman & Robertson, which assisted with the search.
Loyola Marymount University
LOS ANGELES -- Loyola Marymount University hired State Street Global Advisors as its first Russell 1000 index manager to diversify its $235 million endowment, said John Oester, vice president of business and finance.
Funding for the $15 million allocation came partly from cash and partly from rebalancing, he said.
Cambridge Associates assisted.
Minnesota State Board
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The $35 billion Minnesota State Board of Investment allocated an additional $300 million to $400 million to Cohen Klingenstein & Marks, a large-cap domestic equity manager, said Howard Bicker, chief investment officer of the fund.
Cohen Klingenstein had managed about $200 million for the board, Mr. Bicker said, and was promoted from Minnesota's emerging domestic equity program to the regular domestic equity program.
Funding came from American Express Asset Management, which was terminated for performance reasons.
American Express officials did not return phone calls by press time.
New Mexico State
SANTA FE, N.M. -- The New Mexico State Board of Finance will renew its contract with Bankers Trust as custodian for four of the state's funds.
The new contract will begin Oct. 1, said Scott Stovall, procurement manager. Mellon Trust and Citibank were finalists in the search.
Bankers Trust will be the custodian for the state's two permanent funds as well as the Public Employees Retirement Association and the Educational Retirement Board, which have a combined $25 billion in assets.
New York State Common Fund
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The New York State Common Retirement Fund hired Mellon Equity Associates to run $500 million in a large-cap enhanced index strategy. The $110 billion system also allocated $500 million to J.P. Morgan for its enhanced index fund, bringing its account with Morgan to $1.5 billion as of June 30. Funding for both allocations came from an internally managed S&P 500 index fund.
In addition, the fund committed $200 million to the Hudson River Fund, a fund of funds managed by Hamilton Lane Advisors.
Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP
HEERLEN, Netherlands -- Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP hired Pacific Investment Management and Western Asset Management to run two U.S. corporate bond portfolios believed to be worth $200 million each. The portfolios are new mandates designed to increase the 320 billion guilder ($150.4 billion) fund's exposure to U.S. corporate debt. The fund's entire fixed-income portfolio is worth 180 billion guilders.
Teamsters, Local 560
UNION CITY, N.J. -- Teamsters, Local 560 Benefit Funds hired Northern Trust as an S&P 500 index fund manager and an active domestic bond manager for its $700 million defined benefit plan, said William Leitold, fund administrator.
Northern replaces Barclays Global Investors as an equity index fund manager, he said. Funding for Northern's bond portfolio will come from reducing a domestic bond portfolio managed by Mellon Capital Management.
Portfolio sizes weren't given.
Berkowitz Group assisted.
Unisil Acquisition Corp.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Unisil Acquisition Corp. hired MassMutual Retirement Services as bundled provider for its new 401(k) plan.
Unisil, a manufacturer and marketer of silicon wafers, had filed for Chapter 11 and had been purchased out of bankruptcy by the investment firm Dieling, Schreiber & Park. Unisil then became a new company and was required to start a new 401(k) plan, said Lisa Brown, Unisil's director of human resources. The old $7 million 401(k) plan is being terminated by the trustee in bankruptcy, with the help of the old provider ReliaStar, she said.
The new plan has 10 investment options either managed by MassMutual or by managers with MassMutual's alliance partners, she said. The options are a guaranteed fund and a core bond fund managed by MassMutual; an international equity fund subadvised by Harbour View Asset Management, a MassMutual affiliate; Blue Chip Growth run by Fidelity Investments; American Century's Ultra Fund; a midcap growth fund managed by T. Rowe Price; and the four Destiny funds, MassMutual's lifestyle asset allocation options.
Viking Mutual Funds
MINOT, N.D. -- Viking Mutual Funds hired Fox Asset Management as subadviser for the large-cap value equity fund it is introducing. The fund will invest 80%of total assets in U.S. companies with a capitalization of more than $1.5 billion, and 65% of total assets in firms with a capitalization of $5 billion and up
