Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • LOGIN
  • Subscribe
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Face to Face
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • WPS Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2023 Defined Contribution East
    • 2023 ESG Investing
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Online
August 18, 2008 01:00 AM

In big diversification push, Pennsylvania treasurer hires 11 emerging, minority managers

$400 million awarded with the possibility of more to come

Douglas Appell
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s Treasury Department has awarded a combined $400 million to 11 emerging or minority-owned money management firms, part of a broader revamp of the department’s operations to improve efficiency and oversight while enhancing returns, said Treasurer Robin L. Wiessmann.

    In an interview, Ms. Wiessmann called the emerging managers program a “perfect example” of her department’s efforts “to provide more diversification in our portfolio,” even as credit markets have buffeted investors over the past year.

    The new accounts for the Opportunity Fund the Treasury unveiled in June include $300 million to seven fixed-income portfolios and $100 million divided among five equity mandates.

    Bellevue, Wash.-based GW Capital Inc. was the only manager to receive two mandates: a $37.5 million high-yield bond allocation and another $23 million for “smidcap” value equities.

    Five managers received equal core fixed-income mandates of $45 million: Alexandria, Va.-based Hughes Capital Management Inc.; Durham, N.C.-based Piedmont Investment Advisors LLC; Davis Hamilton Jackson & Associates LP and Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP, both in Houston; and Seattle-based Pugh Capital Management Inc.

    Utendahl Capital Management LP, New York, will invest $37.5 million for the Opportunity Fund in mortgages, benchmarked to the Lehman Brothers Mortgage Bond index.

    Of the remaining equity mandates, three went to Pennsylvania-based managers: Symons Capital Management Inc., Pittsburgh, with $23 million in all-cap value; Biondo Investment Advisors LLC, Milford, with $23 million in all-cap growth; and Cameron Capital Management LLC, Radnor, with $8 million in small-cap core equities. Hanseatic Management Services Inc., Albuquerque, N.M., will manage $23 million in small-cap growth equities.

    Treasurer making her mark before term ends

    The program, overseen by Harrisburg-based investment consultant PFM Asset Management LLC, is part of a broader diversification of state investment pools launched by Ms. Wiessmann, who replaced Robert P. Casey Jr. as treasurer at the start of 2007 after he defeated incumbent U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum in the 2006 mid-term elections.

    Ms. Wiessmann, a capital markets veteran who helped found investment bank Artemis Capital Group in 1990 and led the firm through the end of the decade, agreed at the time of her appointment not to seek re-election in 2008 to the treasurer’s post, which has been a stepping stone to higher political office in the Keystone State.

    In an interview, Ms. Wiessmann said she has used her two-year window of opportunity to further modernize an already well-functioning department. After an asset allocation study earlier this year against the background of market turbulence, the Treasury staff determined its core investible balance — that part of the state’s funds that can be invested on a long-term basis — was $4.2 billion, roughly a billion dollars less than previously assumed, she said.

    That determination, combined with the goal of further diversification, led in June to a significant redistribution away from the treasury’s previously concentrated mandates, in which four managers had been looking after 70% of the department’s externally managed assets.

    With that redeployment, King of Prussia-based Valley Forge Asset Management Corp. now manages $483 million in a number of asset classes for the state Treasury, down from $1.869 billion, while affiliate Valley Forge Trust Co., which had managed $722 million, was terminated. Nashville, Tenn.-based Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. looks after $148 million, down from $773 million; and Swarthmore Financial Advisors Ltd. manages $255 million, down from $718 million.

    In the coming months, the Treasury’s diversification push will include allocations to new asset classes, including international stocks and bonds, real estate investment trusts, opportunistic mortgages and Treasury inflation-protected securities. Ms. Wiessmann said another $900 million in mandates are likely to be awarded by September.

    While the market environment has remained challenging as her term draws to a close, Ms. Wiessmann said she’s looking to make sure the department is “up to current institutional investing standards,” with the kinds of culture and policies in place to allow the department to “continually redefine itself.”

    Contact Douglas Appell at [email protected]

    Recommended for You
    martin_luther_king_day_generic_i.jpg
    No P&I Daily on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
    Closed sign
    No P&I Daily over the holidays
    Happy_Thanksgiving_i.jpg
    No P&I Daily for Thanksgiving holiday
    The Institutional Investor's Guide to ESG Investing
    Sponsored Content: The Institutional Investor's Guide to ESG Investing

    Reader Poll

    January 25, 2023
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Show Me the Income: Discovering plan sponsor and participant preferences for cr…
    The Future of Infrastructure: Building a Better Tomorrow
    Outlook 2023: Opportunity in a volatile world
    Research for Institutional Money Management
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    December 12, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Face to Face
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • WPS Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2023 Defined Contribution East
      • 2023 ESG Investing