AFL-CIO Staff Retirement
WASHINGTON -- The $200 million AFL-CIO Staff Retirement Plan hired Payden & Rygel and Utendahl Capital Management to manage $25 million each in core bonds.
Funding will come from reducing the allocation to the plan's current bond manager, which Steve Rohr-baugh, the administrative manager, declined to name.
Mr. Rohrbaugh said the move was made to "split out the fund" to other managers.
Alameda County Employees
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The $2.5 billion Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association hired Salus Capital Management to run an enhanced indexed domestic equity portfolio.
The amount of the mandate was not decided at the county investment committee's October meeting.
AmeriSteel Corp.
TAMPA -- AmeriSteel Corp. hired Sawgrass Asset Management to manage $8 million in small-cap growth equity assets for the company's $95 million defined benefit plan.
The money came from a midcap equity portfolio managed by Denver Investment Advisors. That portfolio was reduced so the pension fund could make its first small-cap allocation, said George Beck, assistant treasurer.
Denver Investment continues to manage midcap equities for Ameri-Steel.
Babson College
BABSON PARK, Mass. -- Babson College committed an additional $3 million to Charles River Ventures, said Tom Cahill, consultant to the $147 million endowment, which has 5% of assets allocated to venture capital.
He said the endowment earlier had committed $2 million to Charles River's Fund VIII and $2 million to its Fund IX.
Funding came from investment returns.
Charles River invests in early-stage technology and telecom companies.
The Boston Home
DORCHESTER, Mass. -- The Boston Home hired MFS Institutional Advisors to manage $4.6 million in midcap growth domestic equities for its $37.6 million endowment.
The allocation was managed by Standish Ayer & Wood, which until recently managed most of the total endowment, said Paul Ercolini, chief financial officer for the endowment.
"The investment committee wanted to diversify and add hedge funds and value, and we didn't think we could get all that with Standish alone. For midcap, we thought MFS had a more concentrated view of growth stocks," Mr. Ercolini added.
The endowment has hired five new managers in 18 months, moving into hedge funds, large-cap indexing and midcap value stocks, he said.
Standish still handles a $2.8 million small-cap equity portfolio and about $11 million in bonds.
Borough of Bromley
LONDON -- The London Borough of Bromley Superannuation fund dropped Fleming Asset Management from a L110 million ($176 million) balanced mandate and replaced it with Baillie Gifford.
Mike Pitt, assistant treasurer for the Borough of Bromley, said Fleming was dropped by the L220 million plan for performance reasons.
Fidelity Pensions Management continues to run a L110 million balanced portfolio for the plan.
Fleming officials would not comment on the termination.
The trustees were advised by Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
California Public Employees
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The $157 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System has committed up to $320 million to three buyout funds as part of its alternative investment program. The fund already had $10.2 billion committed to the area as of June 30.
The fund committed $150 million to Texas Pacific Group's TPG III fund, which will invest in technology/telecommunications, branded products, utilities, health care and special growth situations in Europe. It also committed up to $70 million to Littlejohn Fund II, which is seeking to raise $400 million to $600 million for buyouts of underperforming companies in the middle market. And another $100 million was committed to a private equity fund being raised by Mountain Capital, a new firm that will invest 70%to 80%of its capital in communications firms and the remainder in the education sector.
Chicago Park Employees
CHICAGO -- Chicago Park Employees' Annuity & Benefit Fund trustees voted to invest $36 million in a J.P. Morgan enhanced stock index fund. The other finalist in the search was A I M Advisors.
The move is part of the $600 million fund's efforts to eventually have about 20%of the total equity allocation in enhanced index strategies, said Joseph Fratto, executive director. Initial funding will come from a terminated S&P 500 indexed portfolio managed by Northern Trust. Additional allocations will be made from cash flow, Mr. Fratto said.
Ennis Knupp assisted.
Clarica Life Insurance
TORONTO -- Clarica Life Insurance hired State Street Research to subadvise two new equity mutual funds, the Clarica U.S. Growth Equity Fund and the Clarica U.S. Small-Cap Fund.
State Street Research continues to manage the $37 million Clarica MVP U.S. Equity Fund for what was the Canadian division of Metropolitan Life, which Clarica acquired this summer.
Convergis Corp.
CINCINNATI -- Convergis Corp. hired SEI Asset Management to provide total plan management services for its $150 million defined benefit plan. Assets were transferred in August to SEI, which has assumed investment management, trust and administrative services for the plan, said Rick Pleeney, the company's treasurer.
Information about the plan's previous managers was not available.
Los Angeles City Employees
LOS ANGELES -- The board of the $7.1 billion Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System hired Pension Consulting Alliance as its new general portfolio consultant.
The board indicated it was not dissatisfied with incumbent Asset Strategies but that it wanted to take a different approach, said Dan Gallagher, chief investment officer.
Maryland Teachers & State
BALTIMORE -- The $1.5 billion Maryland Teachers & State Employees Supplemental Retirement Plan moved $500 million to large-cap value stocks from microcap stocks, said Arthur N. Caple Jr., executive director. The fund terminated microcap manager Wellington and split the money between existing managers Legg Mason and Edgar Lomax, and two new managers, Torray and J.&W. Seligman.
"We felt that going forward we would do a little better in the value area, so we decided to switch," Mr. Caple said.
Mississippi Health Care Trust
JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi Health Care Trust Fund hired Froley, Revy Investments to manage a $45 million convertibles portfolio, said Deputy Treasurer Elizabeth Majure.
The $284 million trust is Mississippi's share of the tobacco settlement between major cigarette manufacturers and the states. Mississippi expects to receive an additional $76.5 million in December and $145 million in January.
The board also will begin interviewing large-cap stock managers in November, said Ms. Majure.
New York City Teachers
NEW YORK -- The New York City Teachers Retirement System's $17.5 billion Variable A Fund hired Barclays Global Investors to run $4 billion in a U.S. equity Russell 3000 fund and $880 million in an EAFE index fund, replacing Bankers Trust, which was terminated, said Jane Levine, deputy comptroller for pensions.
The termination was part of an ongoing review of the 403(b) plan's managers, said Ms. Levine. Bankers Trust officials didn't return phone calls for comment.
Outboard Marine Corp.
WAUKEGAN, Ill. -- Outboard Marine Corp. terminated its defined benefit managers and moved the assets to a fund-of-funds managed by SEI Asset Management, according to sources familiar with the fund's operations.
Company Treasurer Eric Martinez was unavailable for comment.
Outboard's defined benefit assets total a little more than $400 million, according to the Money Market Directory. The pension fund employed seven money managers, according to MMD.
The company reportedly terminated its managers in early September, according to sources. The managers were: Driehaus Capital Management, Independence Investment Associates, Kennedy Capital, Morgan Stanley Asset Management, Mutual Benefit Life, The Principal and Standish, Ayer & Wood.
DeMarche Associates is Outboard's consultant.
SEI Asset Management
OAKS, Pa. -- SEI Asset Management hired Security Capital Global Capital Management Group as its 10th manager for its small-cap manager-of-managers portfolio.
Security Capital Global will manage real estate investment trusts within the portfolio.
UAW, Local 259
NEW YORK -- United Auto Workers, Local 259, New York, hired Conseco Capital to manage a $7 million domestic core bond portfolio and Sanford Bernstein to run $5 million in U.S. value equities.
The funding came from balanced portfolio manager Amivest, which was terminated because of performance problems, said fund consultant Fred Harrall of Segal Advisors. Mr. Harrall said the move also was made to add more specialized management for the $41 million fund.
Officials at Amivest declined to comment on the termination.
Vermont Municipal Employees
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- The $158 million Vermont Municipal Employees Retirement System picked Seix Investment Advisors to manage approximately $50 million in a high-grade domestic bond portfolio, said James H. Douglas, state treasurer. The system had parked the money in a domestic fixed-income index fund after terminating Loomis, Sayles last year. Wilshire Associates assisted.
The system also chose Fidelity Investments as the bundled service provider for its optional defined contribution plan, which is being set up under a law passed in May. The new plan will start July 1.
Virginia Retirement System
RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia Retirement System hired three core domestic equity managers to manage between $100 million and $200 million apiece.
They are Fiduciary Asset Management and Franklin Management, both of which will run large-cap portfolios; and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which will run a small-cap portfolio, said Nancy C. Everett, chief investment officer.
The system, with $35 billion in assets, also agreed to give Charterhouse Capital another $40.5 million to invest in CCP VI Auxiliary Fund. The system initially had invested $40.5 million in Charterhouse's CCP VI buyout fund.
Money for the investments will come from cash, Ms. Everett said.
West Virginia University
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The $338 million West Virginia University Foundation has made two alternative investment commitments totaling $9 million, said Dorothy Dotson, vice president for investments. The foundation, which can allocate up to 15%of assets to alternative investments, committed $4 million to Commonfund Realty and $5 million to Sevin Rosen Fund VII.
