City of Austin (Texas) Employees' Retirement System will consider five finalists in its search for a manager to run about $50 million in active domestic small-cap value equities, according to Stephen C. Edmonds, executive director. He would not identify the firms. The $1.4 billion system's investment committee will interview the managers and report to the full board Sept. 27. If a new manager is selected, it would replace Sterling Capital Management, which ran the assets in a similar style.
Cathy Rodgers, investment committee chairwoman, has said the committee was concerned with BB&T Corp.'s purchase earlier this year of a 70% ownership stake in Sterling, as well as its performance. Mark W. Whelan, a managing director at Sterling, was not available for comment by press time.