Minnesota State Board of Investment, St. Paul, with $41 billion in retirement assets, hired seven new firms to handle $50 million each for its $700 million emerging managers program. They are: Artemis Investment Management; Berger/Bay Isle Financial; Earnest Partners; Holt-Smith & Yates; Next Century Growth Investors; Peregrine Capital Management; and Voyageur Asset-Chicago Equity Division. The managers run a variety of equity styles, said Howard J. Bicker, executive director.
Compass Capital Management and Wilke/Thompson Capital Management were terminated from the program for performance reasons, said Mr. Bicker. Each managed about $100 million.
David Carlson, a principal and founder of Compass, said the firm had a ‘‘pleasant relationship’’ with the fund for six years. ‘‘Our performance last year was related to the technology bubble, which we did not speculate in ... Our long-term performance, on the other hand, is excellent.’’
Mark A. Thompson, chief investment officer of Wilke/Thompson, did not return a phone call requesting information by press time.
The board also changed emerging manager Winslow Capital’s $170 million mandate to small-cap equities from large-cap equities.
