Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association, Pasadena, Calif., issued an RFP for securities lending providers for an estimated $3.52 billion in corporate bonds and $2.73 billion in U.S. equity securities, said Juan M. Almaguer, the $33 billion plan's principal investment officer, fixed income. LACERA officials are launching the search because current provider Goldman Sachs' contract expires in June. Goldman Sachs is expected to rebid. Copies of the RFP are available online at www.lacera.com. Proposals are due March 25, and should be submitted separately for each asset class.
Southbridge (Mass.) Retirement Board is searching for an active domestic small-cap equity manager to run $2 million. "We've had the same manager for a while and we wanted to see what else is out there," said Mary E. St. Germain, administrator. The $20 million system has the money invested in an active domestic core small-cap fund with Dreyfus, whose poor performance relative to its benchmark prompted the search, said Rafik Ghazarian, consultant with Segal Advisors, the board's investment consultant. RFPs are available from Segal's Carol Tam at [email protected] The deadline for proposals is March 25. Calls to Dreyfus spokeswoman Patrice Koslowski were not returned before press time.
Ohio School Employees' Retirement System, Columbus, issued an RFI for two active currency overlay managers each to overlay $800 million active international equity portfolios. Julie Graham-Price, spokeswoman, said the search is being conducted for diversification, adding the $8.8 billion pension plan will also hire two "backup" managers. The plan is conducting the search internally, and the RFI is available on the plan's website at www.ohsers.org. Responses are due April 1.
Quincy (Mass.) Contributory Retirement System issued RFPs for a manager to run $20 million to $25 million in active domestic small-cap core equities, according to the Massachusetts Public Pension Forum website. The retirement board will accept bids for commingled or separate accounts and will also consider proposals for microcap strategies. The pension plan had $253.8 million in assets as of April 30, 2004, according to Money Market Directory. The RFP is available by e-mailing [email protected], and proposals are due April 1. Neither Edward J. Masterson, executive director of the fund, nor Christopher T. Keenan, investment analyst with consultant Meketa Investment Group, returned calls seeking further information by press time.
Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency Retirement System, Boston, issued an RFP for an active domestic small-cap equity manager to run $3 million to $5 million in a core-to-value portfolio, said John Doherty, executive secretary. Officials of the $50 million fund will accept proposals for either a commingled or a separate account. Funding will come from terminating a State Street Global Advisors Russell 3000 index fund; Mr. Doherty said plan officials think this portfolio will benefit from active management. The RFP is available by e-mailing consultant Meketa Investment Group at [email protected] Proposals are due at 4 p.m. EST April 1.
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, Columbus, issued RFIs for high-yield bond managers. The $64.5 billion system plans to hire two or three managers to handle a total of $200 million to $500 million. The plan does have some high-yield exposure in its $14 billion global bond portfolio, but this will be its first dedicated commitment to high yield, said Richard Baker, spokesman. The RFIs, available at www.opers.org, are due April 8. Ennis, Knupp is assisting.
Orange County Employees Retirement System, Santa Ana, Calif., is searching for an active domestic small-cap growth equity manager and an active international small-cap equity manager, said Keith Bozarth, chief executive officer of the $5 billion fund. The domestic manager will handle about $50 million, and the international manager will run a slightly larger portfolio, with the exact amount still to be determined. Both are new mandates. No RFP will be issued. Mike O'Leary, consultant at Callan Associates, the system's general consultant, is conducting the first phase of the searches. Interested firms can contact Mark Stahl or Karla Noyola at Callan for the domestic equity search, and Brian Zeiler or Eileen Lee for the international search.
Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System will search for an active domestic small-cap value equity manager, an emerging fund-of-funds manager and two active domestic large-cap equity managers, according to a source at the $8.4 billion fund, who declined to be identified. Fund officials have not decided when to conduct the searches. The small-cap value manager will run about $175 million. The emerging fund-of-funds manager, which will focus on active domestic equities, will manage a portfolio tentatively targeted around $75 million. The large-cap managers will run around $225 million each. The new allocation represents a shift to active from passive.
