Activa Asset Management
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Activa Asset Management selected four investment advisers to manage its new mutual funds.
The Activa Growth Fund will be managed by State Street Research & Management Co.; the Activa Intermediate Bond Fund, Van Kampen Management; the International Fund, Nicholas-Applegate; and the Activa Money Market Fund, J.P. Morgan Investment Management.
Akzo Nobel
ARNHEM, the Netherlands -- Stichting Pensioenfonds Akzo Nobel awarded European equity mandates of E133.3 million ($138.6 million) each to Scottish Widows, Mercury Asset Management and AXA Rosenberg, said Bob Puijn, director of financial assets. The fund has E3.3 billion in total assets.
Alabama Trust Fund
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama Trust Fund hired five domestic fixed-income managers to diversify the fund, said Lucy Baxley, state treasurer.
The $1.2 billion fund hired Conseco, Smith Barney, SouthTrust Bank, Sterne Agee and AmSouth Bank.The five replace Wellington Management, which was the fund's sole manager.
SouthTrust also was hired to replace State Street Bank as custodian. Performance was not an issue, added Ms. Baxley.
Conseco and Smith Barney each will receive $325 million; SouthTrust and Sterne Agee each will receive $250 million; and AmSouth will receive $50 million. The search was conducted in-house.
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Associated Press hired Vanguard to replace ADP Retirement Services as record keeper for its $100 million 401(k) plan and will now move to daily valuation, said Jessica Bruce, benefits administrator. Vanguard also will administer the plan, which previously was administered internally. Fee issues brought about the change, said Ms. Bruce.
Automobile Mechanics, 701
COUNTRYSIDE, Ill. -- Automobile, Mechanics Local 701, hired five managers in a revamping of the $617 million defined benefit fund that added small-cap core, value and growth U.S. equity, and midcap value and growth U.S. equity as asset classes, said Alison Ellsworth Silver, consultant to the plan.
Hired were Ariel Capital, for midcap value equity; Putnam, midcap growth equity; Trust Fund Advisors, midcap and small-cap growth equity; Dreyfus Investment Advisors, core small-cap equity; and Systematic Financial Management, small-cap value equity.
Ms. Silver said $10 million will be allocated to each new portfolio.
The previous mix was 100% domestic bonds.
Segal Advisors assisted.
Chicago Police
CHICAGO -- The $4 billion Chicago Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund hired Chicago Trust to manage $100 million in opportunistic fixed-income securities such as high-yield bonds and international bonds, beginning Oct. 1, said James B. Waters Jr., executive director.
Funding came from reducing a $500 million domestic passive bond fund managed by Northern Trust Quantitative Advisors, he said. The change was made to diversify the bond portfolio.
Ennis Knupp assisted.
Disabled American Veterans
COLD SPRINGS, Ky. -- The Disabled American Veterans hired Fifth Third Bank to replace PaineWebber as sole manager for its $85 million defined benefit plan, said Richard Patterson, executive director. Fifth Third will run a balanced account.
PaineWebber was replaced because of fee and performance issues, said Mr. Patterson. Allen Konkin, spokesman for PaineWebber, did not return phone calls by press time.
PaineWebber will continue as administrator for the organization's $20 million 401(k) plan.
Duke Management Co.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke Management Co. hired Artisan to run an active EAFE portfolio and Hansberger Global Investors to manage emerging markets equities, said Eugene McDonald, president.
He declined to disclose the amount of assets each will run for the company, which oversees the $2.3 billion endowment for Duke University. Funding will come from readjusting existing international managers.
University of Findlay
FINDLAY, Ohio -- The University of Findlay hired J.&W. Seligman as manager of a $2 million small-cap value U.S. equity manager for its $18 million endowment said Martin Terry, vice president of business affairs and treasurer for the $18 million endowment. Seligman replaces Brandywine, which was dropped because of performance reasons, Mr. Terry said. Larry Pokora, spokesman for Brandywine, did not return phone calls by press time. Salomon Smith Barney assisted.
Food & Commercial Workers
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Food & Commercial Workers, Local 1059, hired Marquette Associates to replace Hamilton as consultant, because of personnel changes at Hamilton, according to David McAllister, director of financial operations. James Hamilton, president of Hamilton, said, "I hate to see them leave us, but that's life."
Garden City Retirement
GARDEN CITY, Mich. -- The $50 million Garden City Retirement System hired Portfolio Analytics as its new consultant, said Allyson Bettis, treasurer. Ms. Bettis said Portfolio Analytics replaces Capital Resource Advisors, which rebid.
Getty Charitable Trust
LONDON -- The J. Paul Getty Jr. Charitable Trust awarded a œ20 million ($32 million) balanced mandate to Baring Asset Management, with an objective of outperforming the WM Unconstrained Charity Median by 1.5% a year, said Patrick Seth, head of charities at Barings. Neither officials at the trust nor Barings would say who previously managed the mandate.
Illinois State Universities
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Trustees of the Illinois State Universities Retirement System approved a $25 million small-cap to midcap domestic equities allocation to Genesis Capital Management. The board has not determined the specific source of funding.
Lowell Retirement System
LOWELL, Mass. -- The $145 million Lowell Retirement System hired Essex Investment Management to run a $7.5 million small-cap growth portfolio, said Dick Zaccaro, the Wainwright Investment Counsel consultant who assisted.
Massachusetts PRIM
BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board last week hired two managers for real estate investments and three alternative investment managers.
INVESCO was hired to manage $25 million in core real estate investments and LaSalle Advisors to manage $30 million in value real estate investments. INVESCO and LaSalle now handle about $300 million each of PRIM's total $1.4 billion real estate portfolio. The money primarily came from PRIM's S&P 500 index account, where the $26.9 billion fund parks assets earmarked for reallocation, officials said.
In alternative investments, the board hired: New Enterprise Associates IX to invest up to $25 million; Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners IV, up to $75 million; and OCM Opportunities Fund III up to $50 million.
The money came from rebalancing.
Middlesex County Retirement
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Middlesex County Retirement System hired a slew of managers following changes in its asset allocation. The $520 million fund hired, to run $15 million each: Meridian Investment as an emerging manager; Batterymarch for small-cap growth; Seneca, domestic midcap growth; Fisher, small-cap value; and Boston Partners, midcap value. The fund also hired Levin to run a $20 million risk arbitrage portfolio.
Money for the new managers came from cutting back the fund's allocation to domestic large-cap stocks, international stocks and international fixed income, said Gus Aristizabal, chief operating officer at Wainwright Investment Counsel, the fund's consultant.
New Mexico Public Employees
SANTA FE, N.M. -- The Public Employees' Retirement Association of New Mexico selected Aetna Life Insurance and Annuity as the administrator for the state's deferred compensation plan, which has assets exceeding $200 million.
Aetna provides record keeping, enrollment and education to the plan's participants as of Oct. 1.
Copeland was the administrator for the plan until the firm severed the contract about a year ago, according to Kurt Weber, deputy director of operations for the fund. Nationwide Financial Services was the interim administrator.
William M. Mercer assisted.
New York City Deferred
NEW YORK -- The New York City Deferred Compensation Plan hired Citizens Advisers to manage its $250 million socially responsible investment portfolio, confirmed Lou Porpora, assistant director of the $3.8 billion plan.
Citizens Advisers is replacing Neuberger Berman, said Mr. Porpora. He declined to discuss the reasons for the change until after the transfer of the assets.
New York Common Fund
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The New York Common Retirement Fund, with $110 billion in assets, invested $750 million in an EAFE index fund that will be managed by Barclays Global Investors; the fund also committed an additional $150 million to a core/EAFE account managed by Bank of Ireland, said New York state Comptroller H. Carl McCall. The investments are funded from cash.
Pennsylvania State Employes
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania State Employes' Retirement System trustees committed $60 million to the OCM Opportunities Fund III, a distressed debt fund, and $20 million to New Enterprise Associates IX, a venture capital fund, said Tony Parisi, a spokesman for the $24 billion fund.
The commitments will be funded from cash, said Mr. Parisi.
Cambridge Associates assisted.
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
WASHINGTON -- The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. retained Pacholder Associates as a special situations manager for the agency's portfolio of real estate, structured debt, private securities and other illiquid assets, valued at $180 million. Pacholder, which was the pension insurance agency's special situations manager for the past five years, was rehired on a one-year contract, renewable annually for seven years, to find the best way to raise cash for the agency by disposing of those assets.
Philadelphia Municipal
PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Municipal Employees Retirement System's board has approved increases to its private equity commitments, said Marc Bonavitacola, chief investment officer.
The $4.8 billion fund is upping its commitment to Keystone Venture V to $15 million from $10 million, he said. It also conditionally approved a $25 million commitment to European Strategic Partners, a venture capital and buyout fund of funds.
For Philadelphia Municipal to go forward with the commitment, European Strategic Partners must find commitments equal to or greater than Philadelphia's from other U.S. public pension funds. The pension system currently has a 2% allocation to alternative investments, including private equity, he said.
Regis University
DENVER -- Regis University's $24 million endowment hired Lord Abbett to replace Sanford C. Bernstein as a large-cap value U.S. equity manager because of performance, said Joseph Weber, associate vice president of finance.
Lord Abbett will run $2.1 million, funded from Sanford C. Bernstein's $4.2 million portfolio, with the remaining $2.1 million going to a Russell 1000 index fund, added Mr. Weber.
Jennifer Cook, spokeswoman for Sanford C. Bernstein, did not return phone calls by press time.
Randolph-Macon College
ASHLAND, Va. -- Randolph-Macon College hired Flippin, Bruce & Porter to replace Luther King Capital Management as an $8 million large-cap value U.S. equity manager for its $62 million endowment for performance reasons. said John Ahladas, treasurer.
J. Luther King Jr., president of Luther King Capital, did not return phone calls by press time.
Shell Oil Co.
HOUSTON -- Shell Oil Co. hired three large-cap equity enhanced index managers as part of an effort to lower and more accurately predict risk, said Janet Handley, senior staff investment specialist for the $6.5 billion defined benefit plan.
Hired were Chicago Equity Partners, Westpeak and Geewax, Terker. Chicago Equity Partners will manage approximately $100 million. Ms. Handley would not reveal the size of the other firms' portfolios. The funding came from a reallocation, but Ms. Handley would not say if any managers were terminated
