ABC-NABET
NEW YORK - The $600 million ABC-NABET Retirement Trust hired Bridgewater to manage $25 million in its first active global bond mandate, said Dennis Allen, trustee. Funding came from reducing a PIMCO core bond portfolio, which now will total $175 million.
Also, the trust allocated an additional $10 million to an active domestic large-cap value equity portfolio managed by Cooke & Bieler, raising it to $55 million. The trust also added $25 million to an active domestic small-cap growth portfolio run by TCW, which is now at $60 million. Funding for those additions came from rebalancing, Mr. Allen said.
Colorado Public Employees
DENVER - The Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association hired Fidelity Investments to provide five Freedom lifecycle funds for its $601 million 401(k) plan, said Katie Kaufmanis, the association's communications director. The funds will be available Jan. 1, and the plan will have 16 options.
Cone Mills Corp.
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Cone Mills Corp. hired Wellington Management and BPI Global Asset Management to run $4 million each in active domestic small-cap equities and international equities, respectively. Both are new asset classes for the $100 million defined benefit plan.
Funding came from INVESCO, which managed the pension fund's $43 million equity exposure in active domestic large-cap value equities; INVESCO was terminated for performance, said Scott Wenhold, treasurer. INVESCO spokesman Bill Hensel said, "We look forward to the opportunity to work with them again."
Fund officials parked the remaining $35 million in a Russell 1000 index fund with State Street Global Advisors. Because it has been frozen, "I don't feel the need to go out and hit home runs on the pension plan," Mr. Wenhold said, commenting on the decision to passively manage the bulk of the pension fund's equity exposure. "I don't want an overfunded plan, I just want it to remain fully funded." The pension plan has a $4 million shortfall, he said.
Plan officials also terminated investment consultant Capital Resource Advisors because of budgetary constraints.
Falmouth Contributory
FALMOUTH, Mass. - The $55 million Falmouth Contributory Retirement System hired Rochdale Securities as its first commission recapture broker, said Margaret Corellis, administrator.
HSBC Funds
NEW YORK - HSBC Funds hired Bank of New York to subadvise the eight HSBC Funds, effective Sept. 28. Bank of New York will seek approval from directors and shareholders of each fund family to merge the HSBC funds into comparable BNY Hamilton Funds, said Kevin Bannon, BNY executive vice president and chief investment officer. The HSBC funds were managed internally by HSBC Asset Management Americas. The HSBC Funds have assets of $200 million under management.
Illinois State Universities
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The $11 billion Illinois State Universities Retirement System hired Metropolitan West Capital Management and Western Asset Management to manage $75 million each in core-plus fixed income, said John R. Krimmel, chief investment officer. Funding will come from a $1.8 billion core-plus portfolio run by PIMCO.
The pension fund will wait at least until October to fund the managers, he said. "The markets will have to stabilize before we pull a big chunk of assets from an active manager," he said.
Mr. Krimmel said the system hired the two managers to diversify its fixed-income management. PIMCO runs a total of $2.34 billion in fixed income for the system.
The system also hired Pantheon Ventures, a private equity fund of funds, he said. The size of the allocation will be determined in November. Funding will come from cash flow.
Major League Baseball
NEW YORK - Major League Baseball Players Association, with $2.1 billion in assets, hired BPI Global Asset Management to run $60 million in international equities, said Angie Rowen, associate at consultant William M. Mercer. Ms. Rowen said the funding came from paring other managers, which she declined to identify.
Ronald Blue
ATLANTA - Ronald Blue, an investment counsel firm and independent investment adviser, hired The Principal Financial Group as the primary service provider for its clients.
Sacramento County Employees
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The $3.2 billion Sacramento County Employees' Retirement System hired Metropolitan West Asset Management to run a $200 million core-plus fixed-income portfolio, said Jeffrey States, chief investment officer. About $150 million in funding will come from a $480 million indexed bond portfolio run by Lincoln Capital. The remainder will come from a short- to intermediate-term fixed-income portfolio run by Payden & Rygel, which is being terminated in the restructuring. Mercer Investment Consulting assisted.
Tahoe Forest Hospital District
TRUCKEE, Calif. - The Tahoe Forest Hospital District hired Fidelity Institutional Tax-Exempt Services as bundled provider for its $6 million money purchase plan and $9 million 457 plan, effective Nov. 1.
Fidelity will replace Invesmart, Charles Schwab and New York Life as service providers for the money purchase plan, and Diversified Investment Advisors as bundled provider for the 457 plan.
A single provider was selected to achieve economies of scale, according to consultant Schultz Collins.
