AKZO Nobel
ARNHEM, Netherlands -- AKZO Nobel Pension Fund hired Henderson Investors to manage a e60 million ($57.1 million) portfolio of listed European property stocks, said Rob Horlings, portfolio manager responsible for external managers at the e3.5 billion plan. Incumbent ABN AMRO Asset Management was dropped because plan officials were dissatisfied with the firm's investment process, Mr. Horlings said.
ABN AMRO spokesman Mark Lammerts would not comment.
Directors Guild of America
LOS ANGELES -- The Directors Guild of America Pension Plan hired The Boston Co. to manage $29 million in active domestic midcap value equities, replacing Boston Partners, which was terminated for performance reasons, said Gavin Gervis, spokesman for the $1.4 billion pension fund. Boston Partners officials could not be reached for comment by press time.
Dukes County Retirement
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. -- The $25 million Dukes County Retirement System hired Loomis Sayles to manage $1 million in active domestic small-cap growth equities, said Cynthia Schilling, spokeswoman. Funding will come from cash.
Fulton County Employees'
ATLANTA -- The Fulton County Employees' Retirement System hired Westwood Management to run $50 million in active domestic small-cap to midcap growth equities, a new allocation for the $940 million fund, said a spokesman, who asked not to be identified.
Halliburton Co.
DALLAS -- Halliburton Co. hired four new managers for its $314 million defined benefit and $4.8 billion defined contribution plan. They are: Putnam, active international equity fund, replacing Brinson; Western, active domestic core-plus fixed income, replacing Putnam; Wellington, active domestic large-cap equities, replacing Ark Asset Management; and Reams, active domestic core-plus fixed income, replacing State Street Research, which ran an active global fixed-income fund.
The changes are the result of a manager review, said Sharon Parkes, manager of trust investments at Halliburton. She declined to comment on why the changes were made or the size of the portfolios.
Los Angeles County Employees
LOS ANGELES -- The $30.6 billion Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association's board approved a commitment of e50 million ($47.14 million) in Apax Europe V, a private equity fund, subject to negotiation. The board already invested e25 million in Apax Europe IV, said Christopher J. Wagner, investment officer, alternative assets.
Manhattan and Bronx Transit
NEW YORK -- Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority pension plan hired New England Pension Consultants to provide a full range of consulting services, according to Anthony Patten, deputy director of the $600 million fund. Callan Associates provided consulting services to the fund for the past 10 years. Officials at Callan did not return calls by press time.
Marin County Employees
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- Marin County Employees' Retirement Association, hired Mazama Capital to run an active domestic small-cap growth equity portfolio, said Norman Klein, retirement administrator. The $946 million pension fund still is in negotiations with an unnamed international equity manager. The size of both allocations will be determined later by an asset-allocation study. Callan is assisting.
Methodist Theological School
DELAWARE, Ohio -- Methodist Theological School invested $1.2 million each with Commonfund's Growth Opportunity and Value Opportunity funds for its $20 million pooled endowment fund, according to Dee Ann Chiles, vice president-finance and administration for the school. The fund has more than $18 million invested with Commonfund.
MetLife Resources
NEW YORK -- MetLife Resources hired Financial Engines, an online investment advice provider for defined contribution plan participants, to provide investment advisory services for MetLife's not-for-profit, education and health-care defined contribution clients.
MetLife already has a relationship with Standard & Poor's, which offers investment advice to participants in the corporate defined contribution plans serviced by MetLife, said Michelle Marin, MetLife director of public relations.
Montgomery County
NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- The $370 million Montgomery County Retirement System hired five active equity managers: Swarthmore, to handle $20 million in domestic large-cap growth; Goldman Sachs, $20 million, domestic large-cap core; Roll & Ross, $20 million, global large-cap core; Villanova Capital, $20 million, international large-cap core; and Emerald Advisers, $10 million, domestic small-cap growth. The plan also added $10 million to an active domestic large-cap core equities account managed by Valley Forge, bringing that portfolio to $85 million.
Funding comes from reducing an active domestic large-cap value core equity portfolio managed by Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown to $99 million from $159 million. The additional $40 million comes from an index fund. John Spagnola, president at consultant Spagnola Cossack, would not name the index manager.
The changes were made for diversification, said Mr. Spagnola.
New Orleans City Employees
NEW ORLEANS -- The $340 million New Orleans City Employees' Retirement System hired Advent Capital Management to run $20 million in active domestic convertible bonds, and Rorer Asset Management to run $25 million in active domestic large-cap value equities, said Jerry Davis, chairman. Funding for the Advent allocation comes from reducing active domestic fixed-income portfolios run by Orleans Capital Management and Scudder Kemper Investments by $10 million each, leaving them with $40 million each. Funding for the Rorer allocation comes from rebalancing.
Advent was hired for diversification and to increase returns, said Mr. Davis, while Rorer was added because the plan wanted to move more money into value equities.
New York City
NEW YORK -- Four of the five New York City retirement funds have retained Barclays Global Investors to manage a collective $3.63 billion in passive EAFE mandates, said Jane Levine, deputy comptroller for pensions. BGI was rehired after going through a competitive RFP process. BGI will continue to run $1.7 billion for the $42.6 billion New York City Employees Retirement System; $1.4 billion for the $27.7 billion Teachers' Retirement System of the City of New York; and $80 million for the $1.8 billion New York City Board of Education pension fund.
The $17.8 billion New York City Policemen's fund, while retaining BGI, split the firm's $900 million mandate. BGI will manage $450 million and Deutsche Asset Management will receive $450 million, pending successful contract negotiations. Deutsche also runs $3 billion in a passively managed domestic equity fund for the Policemen's fund.
The $6.3 billion New York City Firemen's pension fund retained State Street Global Advisors for its $250 million passive EAFE mandate.
Pensacola Firefighters' Relief
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The $70 million Pensacola Firefighters' Relief and Pension Fund hired DePrince Race & Zollo to manage an active international large-cap value equity portfolio. The amount of the portfolio has not been determined, said Cheryl Jackson, administrative officer. Funding will come from rebalancing. The move was made after the state lifted restrictions on international investing, said Ms. Jackson.
Pensacola Police Officers
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The $40 million Pensacola Police Officers Retirement Fund hired Deutsche Asset Management to manage an $8.7 million passive domestic portfolio benchmarked to the Russell 1000, said Cheryl Jackson, administrative officer. Funding will come from rebalancing. Ms. Jackson said consultant Gabriel, Roeder, Smith suggested the move for diversification.
Phelps Dodge Corp.
PHOENIX -- Phelps Dodge Corp., which acquired Cyprus Amax Minerals Corp. in August, hired J.P. Morgan/American Century as bundled provider for the companies' combined $540 million 401(k) plan. The new provider replaces T. Rowe Price, which offered 10 options as bundled provider for the Cyprus plan. It will offer six funds, three asset allocation portfolios, a Schwab self-directed brokerage account and a company stock option, said Amelia Singleterry, assistant treasurer at Phelps Dodge.
Plymouth County Retirement
PLYMOUTH, Mass. -- The $354 million Plymouth County Retirement System hired Wainwright Investment as consultant, replacing Dahab Associates, said John McLellan, system spokesman. Wainwright likely will do an asset allocation study later this year.
Sarasota Police Officers
SARASOTA, Fla. -- The Sarasota Police Officers' Pension Plan hired Nicholas-Applegate to manage $5.5 million in active domestic small-cap growth equities and Forstmann-Leff to run $5.5 million in active domestic small-cap to midcap growth equities, said Benita Saldutti, plan administrator for the $114 million plan. Funding comes from reallocating other equity portfolios. The moves were made to improve diversification, Ms. Saldutti said.
Merrill Lynch assisted.
Simon Fraser University
BURNABY, British Columbia -- Simon Fraser University hired four managers to run its C$193 million (US$129 million) hybrid pension plan for members of the academic staff. They were: Sprucegrove, to manage an international equity pooled fund; Phillips, Hager & North, offering Canadian balanced, Canadian bond, Canadian equity plus and U.S. equity funds; McLean Budden, global equity, Canadian equity and money market funds; and Barclays, BGI Index Fund U.S. and Canada, actively managed S&P 500, TSE 300 index and synthetic Canadian equity index funds.
The plan's assets previously were handled in-house in a core fund. The new structure gives participants more flexibility, said Alan Black, manager of pensions and benefits.
The plan also hired SunLife as record keeper for participants using the plan's GIC option.
Administration and trustee duties are still handled internally.
St. Louis County
CLAYTON, Mo. -- The $332 million St. Louis County pension plan hired Batterymarch Capital Management to run $40 million in active domestic small-cap core equities, said Dan Holmes, managing director of consultant Summit Strategies. Funding comes from an active domestic small-cap core equities manager Mr. Holmes would not identify.
St. Louis Employees
ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Employees' Retirement System hired Great West as bundled provider for its $125 million 457 deferred compensation plan, providing 32 investment options, said William Duffy, system secretary. Great West replaces Nationwide Retirement Solutions, which offered 20 investment options. Nationwide was at the end of its contract with the city, Mr. Duffy said, and the system wanted to see if it could get improved fees with another provider.
Waterford Township
WATERFORD, Mich. -- The Waterford Township General Employees Retirement System hired State Street Global Advisors to manage $1.9 million in active international large-cap growth equities. Funding came from rebalancing, said Nancy Smith, chairwoman of the $38 million fund. The move was made for diversification, she said, and Michigan state law recently was changed to allow public pension plans to hire international managers.
Worcestershire County Council
WORCESTERSHIRE, England -- Worcestershire County Council Pension Fund hired William M. Mercer as actuary, dropping Watson Wyatt Worldwide, following a formal review of the fund's service providers.
The L830 million ($1.2 billion) pension plan's money managers remain, said Graham Prosser, pensions investment officer, adding it was too early to say if an asset-liability study would be launched. He would give no further details. Gartmore Investment Management and Schroder Investment Management are the plan's money managers, according to Pension Funds and Their Advisors.
