Arnot-Ogden Medical Center
ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Arnot-Ogden Medical Center hired four managers for its $50 million defined benefit plan. Vanguard Group, will run an S&P 500 index portfolio; Artisan Partners, domestic midcap growth equity; Miller Anderson Sherrerd, domestic midcap value equity; and Silchester International, international equity, said Marc Rustici, controller.
California Public Employees
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The $156 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System investment committee approved a $100 million commitment to Blackstone Mezzanine Partners LP, a debt-oriented mezzanine fund.
Central Florida Community
OCALA, Fla. -- The $10 million Central Florida Community College Foundation hired Fund Evaluation Group as its first consultant, said Casius Pealer, president of the foundation. Fund Evaluation will provide asset allocation and investment manager evaluations and recommendations.
Colorado School of Mines
GOLDEN, Colo. -- The $111 endowment of the Colorado School of Mines hired The TCW Group to manage $26 million in alarge-cap growth domestic equity, replacingProvident Investment Counsel.
Florida Prepaid College
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Prepaid College Program hired Scudder Kemper to run $70 million in domestic large-cap value equity. Scudder Kemper will replace T. Rowe Price Associates, said Tom Wallace, executive director. T. Rowe Price had rebid.
The $2 billion trust fund is still evaluating proposals submitted by potential S&P 500 index and domestic fixed-income managers. Mr. Wallace said the fund will hire one or two fixed-income managers to handle, in total, $1.8 billion in assets. The contract of the sole current fixed-income manager, US Trust Corp., expires June 30. It has rebid. The new S&P 500 index manager will manage $80 million. Hiring announcements are expected in March.
Gainesville Police
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Gainesville Consolidated Police Officers & Firefighters Pension Trust Fund hired Watson Wyatt to replace Merrill Lynch as the $70 million system's consultant. RFPs were issued earlier this year for a firm that did not have broker-dealer affiliations, said Tim Christiansen, Gainesville investment analyst.
Garden City Retirement System
GARDEN CITY, Mich. -- The $60 million Garden City Retirement System hired Portfolio Analytics as consultant to the fund, replacing Capital Resource Advisers.
General Nutrition Inc.
PITTSBURGH -- General Nutrition Inc. hired American Express Retirement Services to replace Diversified Investment Advisors as manager for its $35 million 401(k) plan. Joanne Mostowy, benefit manager, said the new manager offers plan participants 10 investment options. Ms. Mostowy declined to comment on the reason for Diversified's termination. Peter Kunkel, Diversified's vice president of client services, said the split was amicable, but the fund was looking for a more one-on-one approach than the manager could provide.
Jacksonville General
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The City of Jacksonville General Employees' Pension Fund hired Merrill Lynch Consulting Services Group to replace Callan as consultant to the $1.5 billion fund. Callan had used its last allowable contract renewal earlier in the year.
Kingston-upon-Hull Council
KINGSTON-UPON-HULL, England -- Kingston-upon-Hull City Council has awarded a 50 million ($80 million) cash management mandate to Investec Guinness Flight. The funds are part of the 255 million raised from the July flotation of Kingston Communications. The balance of the money raised will be managed in-house.
Louisiana Teachers' Retirement
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The $11.2 billion Louisiana Teachers' Retirement System hired Nicholas-Applegate and Artisan Partners to replace international equity managers Scudder Kemper and Smith Barney, whose new bids were not accepted. The fund has not determined portfolio sizes, but Director James Hadley said neither will exceed $350 million.
New York City Teachers
NEW YORK -- The Teachers' Retirement System of the City of New York hired three managers to run domestic equity portfolios totaling $300 million, pending successful contract negotiations, said Jonathan Kimmel, director, legal affairs.
Hired to manage $100 million each for the $45 billion system were: New South Capital for a small-cap to midcap value strategy; Freedom Capital for a growth-value style rotation; and TCW for a small-cap to midcap growth strategy.
Funding will come from domestic equity portfolios managed by Fidelity, which now runs an $815 million select equity portfolio for the system; Goldman Sachs, $746 million in enhanced core; and Enhanced Investment Technologies, $858 million in a "superfund core strategy" that seeks to outperform the S&P 500.
Oregon Public Employees
SALEM, Ore. -- The $35 billion Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund allocated a total of $375 million to three management buyout and venture capital funds, said Jay Fewel, senior investment officer. The pension fund committed $300 million and $50 million, respectively, to the Texas Pacific Group III and T3 Partners funds, management buyout funds run by Texas Pacific Group.
Separately, the fund committed $25 million to Olympic Venture Partners, which focuses on investment in venture capital in the Northwest. In October, the fund committed $100 million to Thomas Weisel Capital Partners LP.
Pennsylvania Municipal
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System awarded a new five-year contract to Dahab Associates, its current consultant, according to James Allen, secretary of the $1 billion fund. The board renewed the contract now instead of waiting until the current one expires in March, Mr. Allen said, "because it takes four months to get the contract through."
University of North Carolina
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has committed $9 million to three new venture capital managers, said Mark Yusko, chief investment officer. It gave $3 million each to U.S. Venture Partners, Sevin Rosen Funds, and Foundation Capital. It also committed $5 million to buyout firm The Audax Group. Funding will come from the $900 million endowment's cash reserves.
VKG
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Voorzorgskas voor Geneesheren, Tandartsen en Apothekers VZW appointed Fiduciary Trust International to manage a E70 million corporate bond portfolio.
The E455 million fund is making its first foray into corporate bonds in an attempt to improve yield, according to Karel Stroobants, VKG deputy general manager. The new portfolio will be funded by slashing VKG's current E140 million exposure to European government bonds.
Incumbent European government bond manager Bank Deeway NV will continue to manage the fund's government bond portfolio, which will be halved to E70 million. VKG is discussing with Bank Deeway the possibility of moving "to a more passive basis" when managing the portfolio, said Mr. Stroobants.
