MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee County Employees' Retirement System restructured its active domestic midcap equity portfolio, said John Martin, trustee. The $1.5 billion pension fund hired core managers EARNEST Partners to manage $45 million and Reinhart & Mahoney Capital Management to run $10 million, and value firm Hotchkis and Wiley Capital Management to handle $45 million, Mr. Martin said. Funding will come from terminating U.S. Bancorp, which runs $100 million in active domestic midcap core equities; Mr. Martin said the board cited performance issues and a need for diversification. Lynn Harrington, who oversees relationship management at U.S. Bancorp, couldn't be reached for comment.
The system also restructured its fixed-income portfolio, hiring Banc One Investment Advisors to manage $136 million in active core and adding $40 million to Loomis Sayles' active core portfolio, raising it to $136 million. Partial funding for the changes came from terminating Wells Capital Management, which succeeded Strong Capital Management as manager of a $113 million active fixed-income core portfolio after buying Strong. Additional funding came from reducing a Mellon Capital Management Lehman Aggregate index fund to $136 million from $200 million. The board cited concerns about Strong's involvement in the mutual fund trading scandal and also wanted more diversification.
